


The Ties That Bind Us

by MarionMarionette



Category: Original Work
Genre: Age Difference, Anal Sex, BDSM, Bondage, Boss/Employee Relationship, Co-workers, Comedy, Dom/sub, Dubious Consent, Fluff and Angst, Gossip, Grumpy Old Men, Height Differences, M/M, Masturbation, Older Man/Younger Man, Orgasm Delay/Denial, Porn With Plot, Power Dynamics, Power Imbalance, Power Play, Safewords, Sex Toys, Vibrators, Workplace, Workplace Relationship
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-03-12
Updated: 2021-01-21
Packaged: 2021-02-28 19:28:19
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 11
Words: 56,679
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23122495
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MarionMarionette/pseuds/MarionMarionette
Summary: 35 year old Harrison Clements would like nothing more than to trudge through the painful reality that is his 50 hours a week work schedule, retire in 40 years, and live the rest of his pitiful life in the southwest, ignoring everything and everyone and owing them nothing. And he's almost halfway to that goal, except he's not, and his life is a constant state of mundane hell. But at least he's getting by on minimal social interaction and getting all his work turned in to his bosses.When a new hire starts slowly making his way up the ranks, right till he's under Harrison's nose, he starts to get the feeling that achieving his goals will mean avoiding the new guy. If only it were that easy, though. On the bright side, his new underling is more than happy to help him out with understanding a bit more about what they look to accomplish at Opera Corp.
Relationships: Original Male Character/Original Male Character
Comments: 22
Kudos: 111





	1. Loading

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first work on ao3, and I haven't written in a while, so just be merciful when you're judging. Comments are always loved and responded to, though!

As the sound of Harrison's computer crashing and force shutting down broke the dead silence in his dark office, he could feel his right eye jump a little in loss and frustration. The bad thing about Microsoft Office, in his opinion, was the lack of an automatic save feature. Everything else was fine, he'd swear. Just would like to not have to fight off the urge to cry like a 12 year old girl being broken up with whenever he loses the last hour or so of work because of random computer crashes. Which was yet another thing he could go on about, the out dated and dying computers his office space refused to replace, but he was too preoccupied with the current catastrophe to even think straight.

Instead, he leaned back in his swivel chair and stared up at the ceiling. For the past hour he'd been working on organizing the several spreadsheets he'd received from his employees for the last quarter of sales at Opera Corp. It wasn't that organizing was hard work, it's that there was just so much of it. He knew he could easily turn the computer back on and start again from the last time he saved, but the lack of sleep was beginning to drag his eyelids closed.

It had been, what, two, maybe three days of minimal sleep? It wasn't that he was trying to stay up late and wake up early, the end of the quarter was usually just a hectic time for him, not to mention that wrapping things up didn't mean he could neglect his daily duties either, so it was just a constant rush to get everything done and get caught up in his regular work. Harrison was just lucky he knew what he was doing, so nothing was every too hard for him. Never too difficult, always too much.

On another note, Opera Corp. was an... interesting company, to say the least. Honestly, Harrison wasn't sure how he managed to get caught up in working there, let alone being its Corporate Administrations Officer, or CAO if you will, but really he wasn't one to complain. If he could change at least one thing about his work place, though, he'd definitely prohibit his employees from discussing the uses and appearances of the.. products they made and distributed.

To be frank, Opera Corp. sold sex toys. And they sold _good_ sex toys. Ones used for a fetish that Harrison had learned to call bdsm. Toys like leather handcuffs, large dildos, eight function vibrators, even a couple of gags, whips, and blindfolds. As well as a category of bdsm toys that Harrison referred to as the unmentionable, the extreme stuff that he had no idea why they were used in the first place. Some of them just seemed downright... extreme. Or maybe he just wasn't caught up with the times. Either way, he chose not to stay on that section of the company's website for too long.

These toys were popular, and they worked well. Or so he'd heard from the every day casual mentions of whatever new kinky thing his employees were into in the break room. And Harrison usually didn't shun people's weird sex lives, he always believed that it was okay for people to do whatever they wanted with their bodies within the privacy of their own home, he just wished he didn't have to _hear_ about it. Let alone imagine it. But okay sure, the company sold sex toys and they were fun to use, big whoop. Harrison wouldn't ever join these discussions though, he'd never want to. It'd be.. weird. Too much, even.

Work is work, for Harrison at least. And Opera Corp. paid well. Well enough for Harrison to afford the mortgage for his own house. The house was a recent buy, after he finally was able to escape his apartment lease of four years, and he was actually quite proud of it. Outside of work, Harrison lived pretty comfortably. But maybe that had to do with the fact that he was spending 10 hours of every weekday at a desk downtown instead of at home using up his electricity and water and riding up the bill. Which, he guessed, was another upside to working with Opera, but that upside came with many downsides. Apart from the long work days, though, and also aside from the uncomfortably awkward sex talks in the break room, and also also aside from the prehistoric computers that ran on prehistoric operating systems that crashed at all hours of every day, and also also also aside from his naive as hell bosses who had not the slightest clue of how to run the damn company correctly if Harrison wasn't there, Harrison could just as well say he loved working at Opera Corp.

Not in this moment, though, when the computer screen in front of him was pitch dark with the soul of his murdered work that he knew he'd have to make up in the next hour before he could actually leave for the day and go home. In this exact moment, sitting in his too warm and soft chair and basking in the darkness of his too dark and quiet office, he hated his job more than anything.

Harrison mulled over the long list of things he had to be done with before the end of the week as his body felt heavier and heavier by the second. Within a few minutes, his eyelids were drooping and he knew it, but he couldn't find it in himself to stop them. If he did, all he'd do would be look back up at his computer, turn it on, and let himself get immersed in that computerized hellscape again. And why would he ever want to do that when Office was most certainly going to crash his shit and make him wish he could jump out of the nearest window. Like it already has, of course. Heh, fuck Microsoft Office. The thought made him smile a bit as his eyes closed fully and he drifted off to a short and dreamless sleep. 

This wouldn't be the first time he'd fallen asleep at work, and he had a feeling it wouldn't be his last. Unless, of course, he got caught sleeping on the job and was promptly fired, but he had a feeling that would never happen either. His bosses and employees needed him too much. He was vital, or at least he'd like to think so. Sleeping at work wasn't his first choice anyways, and if he was mentally aware that he'd fallen asleep, he would have forced himself out of it in a second and gotten back to work. Especially considering _he_ was still in the office. But he wasn't mentally aware, and he was falling deeper into sleep, and he was right to be wary, he just didn't know it yet.

Harrison awoke to the fluttering of bright light behind his eyelids, and the soft shaking of a hand on his shoulder. He opened his eyes, still caught staring up at the ceiling of his small office, except this time he had drool at the corner of his mouth, and he felt ten times sleepier than he was just a few minutes ago. He straightened up and looked back down at the computer in front of him, still dark. The light instead was coming from the open door to his office, and the shaking was coming from the man half standing half crouching beside him, inspecting Harrison with a slightly worried, but mainly amused, smirk. Harrison had to force himself not to grit his teeth, which turned out to be harder than he would have thought it to be with his mind still half asleep. Instead, he wiped away the drool and muttered out a quiet apology to his coworker.

"It's alright," the man replied, and took his hand from Harrison's shoulder. "Don't you think you need to go home, though? If you're not getting enough sleep, then.." he trailed off, giving Harrison another once over before meeting his eyes again.

"I'm fine, thanks," Harrison murmured back. He managed to snap his gaze away from his employee's and forced himself to lock onto the computer in front of him. Maybe if Harrison started working again, his employee would leave out of politeness. Might as well give it a try. He pressed the power button on the computer.

"Okay," his employee continued, "but you know, if you really think doing this much work this late is detrimental to your health, I could always finish things up for you."

Harrison shook his head. Why couldn't the stupid start up process go any faster..? "No, no. I just got distracted. But thanks. Again." Seriously, it was like the producers of the computer made sure to pour molasses all over its circuits before mailing it out to Harrison specifically.

"Mr. Clements, sir, with all due respect..." Didn't this guy ever take a hint and stop talking? "I think you've been spending too much time behind your desk lately. When was the last time you got a decent amount of sleep on the weekdays?"

Finally, _finally_ , the screen lit up with the computer's start up. Harrison quickly entered his login information and then.. waited. Loading. Seriously?

"I, um," he stammered, trying to remember the stupid question the man beside him had asked. As if he needed yet another distraction taking up space in his office. "I slept last night." Hopefully that was a good enough answer. Maybe if he prayed hard enough...

"How many hours?" Harrison had to refrain from tugging at his own hair. That was his thing about this new employee. What was his name again? Trace or something? Jason? Either way, Mr. Woodrow, as Harrison preferred to call him, was always so obsessed with anything anyone had to say. What did you eat for lunch, and how long did it take to prepare? When's the last time you slept, and how many hours? What all have you done today, and in what way has that affected your character as a whole, and what does it mean for your character development arc in the long run? Every question had to have a follow up question. Even if it was very, painfully, obvious that it didn't fucking need one.

"Mr. Clements?" It was at that point that Harrison realized he'd been glaring at a blank Google page for the last 30 seconds of silence or so. He chanced another glance back at whatshisname, who now had furrowed eyebrows on top of his obvious pout.

"Sorry, what was the question?"

Whatshisname inspected Harrison's face for a long while after that, very obviously lingering on the dark circles under Harrison's eyes. He looked as if words were dancing on the tip of his lips, he just wasn't opening his mouth to say them. Instead, he let his gaze bore into Harrison's soul, judging his mental state as if reading Harrison from the inside out. Feeling his face begin to light up, he forced himself to look back at the screen and go to his page history to restart the past 7 pages that had been open but been closed after the crash.

Would you like to restore these pages? Yes. Loading. _Seriously_?

"Mr. Clements, I think you should go home for today. I'm sincerely worried about your current mental and or emotional state." Who did this guy think he was, judging Harrison as if he was a child? Something about the young newbie treating Harrison like he didn't know any better about his own mental health made his blood boil beneath his skin. Seriously, who did this guy think he was?

"Mr. Woodrow, _I think_ you should leave me to my work before I have to file a complaint to HR about distractions during work hours that you and I both know can be settled outside of the workplace."

The employee is silent after this, just staring at him for a moment. Harrison does his best to ignore the man and focus on the new tabs that have popped up on his screen. He goes back to his spreadsheet, hoping he can at least remember some of the work he'd managed to get done in the past hour. The page is blank. Loading. 'I'm gonna-'

"Suit yourself. Sorry for interrupting." the employee straightened back up, interrupting Harrison's sudden violent thought. He excused himself, f i n a l l y, and walked out of the office, letting the door fall closed behind him. Harrison let out a heavy sigh and turned back to his computer screen. Still. Fucking. Loading.

He put his head on his arms, and his arms on the desk. Why was existing so tiring for him? Ugh. He looked up at the screen for a second, which was still loading, and then let his eyes close again.

That newbie always made him want to punch someone in the gut. Always acting like he knew more, just because he was younger and had climbed so high in the office hierarchy in the past month or so. It seemed like every day he was getting closer and closer to Harrison's position, and Harrison didn't like it one bit. In his opinion, the younger generation was too full of itself, and the new guy was just another example of that. Every time he saw Harrison he'd give Harrison this _smile_. It was probably meant to be kind, but to Harrison it just looked as if he was reassuring his bosses that once they were dead and gone, he would have the company in good hands. Of course, there's a very real possibility that Harrison's thinking too much into it, but does Harrison care?

The only thing that mattered to Harrison at the moment was that he didn't have to deal with the nuisance in his current position. He wasn't whatshisname's direct superior, and for that he was grateful. He couldn't imagine having him work directly under Harrison. Let alone somehow surpassing him and having Harrison work for _him_. But there's no way that'd happen, right? Harrison is too.. capable.

Just the idea was beginning to make Harrison somehow more exhausted than he already was. Taking another peek at the office door, Harrison decided it would be too soon for _him_ to come back to check on him, at least for the next couple of minutes. Getting comfortable in his seat, and taking one more glance up at the loading screen in front of him, Harrison closed his eyes for what he hoped would be five minutes or so.

\--

Feeling cramped and uncomfortable, Harrison stretched out his arms and legs, only to be met with the feeling of soft flesh against his knuckles and a soft "ow" more from surprise than from pain. Confused, he pulled his limbs back towards himself and shifted in the seat he was in, keeping his eyes closed. So warm in his office.

"Mr. Clements, where's your address?" Somewhere deep in his sleep deprived mind, his brain tried to register the words as an actual language instead of just meaningless, beautiful sounding gibberish, but Harrison wouldn't let it. Sleep now, think later, he decided.

"Mr. Clements," the voice repeated. "Mr. Clements?" Harrison didn't so much as groan in their direction. Instead, he kicked his legs out again, trying to get just a little bit comfortable. His desk was a lot more confining than he remembered it to be.

All of a sudden, he felt a hand cup his chin and raise his head to somewhere above his line of sight. Drearily, he opened his eyes a bit and looked up at whatever he was being forced to look up at. The face in his vision barely registered as anything so much as "coworker" and his environment barely even registered to be "different." Instead, his mind chose to focus on the soft, warm touch of the fingers against his skin. He let out another groan and leaned into it, still looking up at whoever this mysterious "coworker" is who kept asking stupid questions when he should be letting Harrison sleep.

The "coworker" stared at him hard, making Harrison feel a short pang of anxiousness and confusion. Not enough to make him wake up from his half-asleepness, but enough to make him pout. He tried again to lean into the touch only to then watch the "coworker" lick their lips for.. some reason. Harrison, thinking it slightly silly, licked his lips in return and gave them a smile, as well as another groan.

After another moment of silence, apart from Harrison's groans and nuzzling, the hand retracted and the "coworker" sighed. Harrison was almost sad to feel them go, but he quickly decided it was for the best as he leaned his head against the chair again and closed his tired eyes. So warm in his "different."

"Okay. You're definitely going to hate me for this later." The "different" rumbled to life and the soft vibrations pulled Harrison's mind into a deeper altered state. Feels so nice, feels so calming. Want. All Harrison could focus on is his want, his need to fall asleep. Right here. Right now.

"Hopefully you'll understand in the morning." The "different" began moving, and Harrison fell back asleep.


	2. Don't Look

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Harrison wakes up in a strange place with a strange man and has a strange time

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I think this chapter's a bit longer than the last one. Dunno. Enjoy nonetheless, though.  
> Probably only one more chapter until I get to the really good bits ;3

If feelings could be described with pictures, because describing feelings with words is literally the hardest thing to do in the entirety of things to do in the human psyche, Harrison's current thought process would consist of sunshine falling across a field of grass, a monk meditating in a room full of sleeping puppies, and a breakfast feast fit for kings. In other words, he's warm, calm, and it smells good as hell. Huh, I guess it was easier to describe it like that than I thought...

Harrison stretched in his bed as his mind slowly aroused to meet the bright sun shining in through the window. He'd never woken up like this, usually the sound of a blaring alarm forced him from his sleep so hard his mind got whiplash. But not today, today was nice. It was different. He felt at ease as he relaxed into the bed again and prepared to ride out the rest of his slow awakening until he was ready to leave the bed.

Or at least he _was_ at ease, until he realized he'd missed the sound of his alarm waking up and was now most definitely late for work.

His eyes snapping wide open, Harrison sat up and let out a scream of frustration and misery. How could he have missed the sound of his alarm? It was literally so loud! He did that on purpose! So much for assaulting his own ears every morning to the sound of apple's stupid Marimba alarm. If he was just going to sleep through it like this he'd have made it something at least pleasant.

Harrison sighed and pulled the sheets off of himself and kicked his legs over the side of the bed. It wasn't until his feet hit the cold hardwood floor beneath him that he realized he wasn't even in his own room. His room had carpet, because only maniacs have tiles or hardwood as their floors. Meaning two things exactly. Harrison not only wasn't at home, he was in the room of a maniac. So of course, he screamed again.

As he was pulling his legs up to his chest and looking around the room with his heart beating out of his chest, he was met with yet another shock as a person burst in through the door at the far end of the room. Electing him to, of course, scream again.

"Are you okay, Mr. Clements?" Oh god it's _him_. Ja- Jaaason.. Jeremy? Fucking... Whatshisname. Harrison scowled unconsciously, slowly letting go of his legs as he straightened up to properly glare at his employee.

"Woodrow, where am I?"

Whatshisname had the _nerve_ to look ashamed, avoiding eye contact with Harrison as he pursed his lips. "You're, ah.. in my house, sir. Before you say anything!" he interrupted Harrison just as he was, in fact, about to say, no, scream something, "I only took you here because you fell asleep at the office last night. I went in to check on you and you weren't waking up even when I shook you and called your name. So I just decided to drive you home. But you wouldn't tell me where your house was so I.. I took you here." He met Harrison's eyes again, an apology written all over his face.

Harrison rubbed the bridge of his nose, anger boiling deep within his veins and stomach. But he wasn't just angry at Woodrow, he was angrier at himself for letting this happen. Maybe he did need to get more sleep on work nights...

However, instead of telling Woodrow that, he instead replied with, "What time is it?" If he somehow managed to not only get caught up at an employee's house but also to have missed work, he'd _really_ have to get angry. In fact he just might scream again. Screaming was fun.

"It's.." Whatshisname checked the watch on his left wrist, "8 AM." Harrison put his face in his hands. "But I couldn't wake you up, you needed rest." Harrison groaned. "I called the office and told them you weren't fit to come in today." Harrison groaned louder and rubbed at his temples. "And since it's already my day off, I thought I'd make sure you felt better before you left my house." Harrison snapped his gaze up to Whatshisname's and screamed. "You keep screaming."

" _I am aware._ "

"Is something wrong? If you need to go back to sleep, I'll understand."

Harrison kicked his legs off of the bed again and stood up, shaking his head. "Nope, I'm going home. Thanks for everything, but I have work to finish." He put on his shoes, which were thankfully laying right beside the bed, and walked to the doorway where Whatshisname stood.

"With all due respect, sir," why did he keep saying that? "I really do think it's best if you didn't go in to work today. I already told them you'd be resting and they said it was fine."

"With all due respect, _Mr_. Woodrow, I don't care what you _think_. And frankly I don't have to. I'm going to work." He made a move to walk past Whatshisname, but was stopped. He looked up and glared. Whatshisname glared back.

Something about the way this man was looking at Harrison, towering over him like he had some kind of authority, made Harrison want to shrink back and bury his face in Whatshisname's stupid comfortable bed that was somehow better to sleep in than his own bed. This feeling confused the hell out of him, but he stood his ground, narrowing his eyes more.

"Mr. Woodrow. Let me through." Neither of them moved a muscle. "Employee?" Harrison tried to hide the uncertainty in his voice, but he couldn't help but make the statement sound more like a question. It was now that Harrison was _really_ glad this man didn't work directly under him. How would he ever be able to feel like a boss with this guy around supposedly taking orders from him? He gulped, dropping the gaze to look at the hallway behind the man's frame in the doorway.

If he could just slip through...

Harrison made a run for it, ducking under his arm and darting into the hallway. Caught off guard, it only took Whatshisname half a second to react, and suddenly Harrison was being chased around a house that didn't even belong to him. A house that was, for some reason, full of nothing but hallways and doors. He couldn't help but wonder why this guy didn't knock down a few walls and open the place up a bit more. He'd hate to live here if he were that guy. But that's beside the point.

Harrison took a sharp turn left and was met with a dead end. He stopped in his tracks and turned, finding just enough time to dart into a nearby door and close it behind him before Whatshisname had a chance to.. do whatever he was planning to do once he caught up with Harrison. The thought made Harrison shiver.

Harrison calmed down a bit, the room he was in was tight and dark and was probably a linen closet of some kind, but that meant it was easy for him to hold onto the door handle to keep Whatshisname from coming inside. Just as he suspected, the man tried to turn the door. Harrison held it tightly, but it still managed to move a few inches.

"Mr. Clements, please. You're being unreasonable. Can't we just talk about this?"

"I'm being unreasonable?! You just chased me around your house, which you basically dragged me back to after kidnapping me from work! I think I have a good enough reason to hide from you, you maniac!"

Whatshisname sighed, slowly making leeway with the door handle that Harrison was too weak to keep from turning. Harrison bit his lip and listened to the sound of his heart beating wildly in his own ears, either from the run or from the fear of actually being caught by this guy, it was hard to tell. But maybe it was both.

"I just want to make sure you're okay. Overworking is an actual serious health issue, and you could suffer a heart attack from it at worst. Stress and sleep deprivation do terrible things to your mind and body, and the older you get the worse things it does to you." It was hard to tell, but it kind of sounded like Whatshisname was calling Harrison old. Harrison growled in response and pulled as hard as he could on the door, hoping to all the world that it didn't open.

"You don't think I'd know if my body was in need of immediate medical attention?"

"Honestly, no! I don't think you would know! Because you _don't_ know. And I don't want to see my boss die..!" At that, the doorknob finally clicked as the mechanism was freed from its lock, and the door flung open. Unfortunately, with it came Harrison's center of gravity, and so too did his entire body. He crashed into the chest of Woodrow and they both collapsed to the floor. There they lay, breathing hard after the struggle.

Harrison put his hands on the younger man's chest and pushed himself up. He was dizzy after the sudden flinging from one place to another, but he still had his wits about him. With a final intake of breath, he got up onto his feet and got prepared to run again.

However, before he could take a step, he tripped and fell to the floor. Whatshisname, who had a tight grip on Harrison's ankle, pulled him further away from his goal of escape, and began to crawl over him. Panicked, Harrison kicked his legs and let out grunts and yelps of frustration, and yet it was futile, as his body was slowly enveloped by someone utterly bigger and stronger than him. Thinking about how unfair this whole situation was made him want to cry, but instead he just gave up and lay there, feeling the heat of the man above him pressed against his back. It was weird, but not entirely unpleasant.

"Mr. Clements," his employee continued, "I'm not letting you go back to work." Harrison could feel the breath of the man above him brush gently against the back of his neck, and it made him shiver involuntarily. Before he could think about it too much though, he suddenly found himself with an arm around his chest and being pulled up into a standing position. "Let's just have you rest, I made breakfast." Well, that explained the heavenly smell from earlier.

Whatshisname began walking again, this time holding onto Harrison loosely. In one last burst of power and rage, Harrison tried to get out of his grip and run off again, but that just made Whatshisname grab him by the waist and toss Harrison over his shoulder. Harrison struggled, but it was obvious this man had no trouble picking Harrison up off of the ground and manipulating his unfairly small body.

"Put me down!"

"Mr. Clements, I'm not putting you down. You'll just go back to work, and then you'll overwork and die. You wouldn't be the first it's happened too and you definitely wouldn't be the last. Can't you see I'm just looking out for you?"

"I don't need you to look out for me, I need you to listen to me! Put me down!" Whatshisname just sighed again and resumed his walking. Harrison yelled in frustration and kicked his legs. He felt like a child. A useless, incapable, cranky child of a man. Why couldn't he do anything? Why did he have to do what this stupid man wanted him to do? Why did he have to be babied like he couldn't take care of himself. He beat on Whatshisname's back.

"I'm not going to put you down, sir. You're going to rest, and that's final." Harrison couldn't understand how a single statement from an employee that was _supposed_ to do what he was told and was _supposed_ to be listening to Harrison could manage to make him feel so utterly young yet insanely old at the same time? It was at this point he realized he didn't have any real power in this situation, not with this man in his presence. It was just useless. _He_ was just useless.

This time he couldn't stop the tears of frustration from pricking at his eyes as he pounded on the younger man's back, but was utterly useless in stopping him from taking Harrison back to the room and tossing him onto the bed.

Harrison moved to hop out of the bed again, but the man quickly climbed onto the bed and grabbed his wrists, pinning him back onto the bed and glaring down at him. After a short attempt to free his hands from the man's grasp, Harrison glared back despite the angry tears racing down his cheeks and into his hair behind him. Whatshisname's expression softened at the sight of the tears and he searched Harrison's eyes for a second.

"Why are you crying?" he asked, and for a second Harrison didn't know how to answer.

Eventually, he said, "Because you're stronger than me," and tried to blink away the tears forming in his eyes. Whatshisname looked surprised for a second, then snorted, and Harrison felt burn his eyes again and a sob form into a bubble stuck in his throat. His lip trembled and the man stopped looking amused.

"Sir, there's nothing wrong with not being stronger than someone, especially if that someone is just trying to help you. I understand your concerns, but you have to believe that I only have you best interests at heart. I'm sorry for being rough with you, but I'd rather you hate me now than to watch you die later on."

Harrison tried and failed not to sniffle. The embarrassment began to heat up his cheeks as his eyes darted away from the man's piercing gaze. Not knowing what to say, Harrison replies with "Everybody dies."

"But not everyone dies from something that could have been easily preventable. You can save yourself, all you have to do is take into account your mental health as if it's your physical health. Would you still go to work if both your arms were broken?"

Feeling defiant, Harrison pursed his lips and replied, "Yes."

Whatshisname was silent for a while, then he began laughing and loosened his grip on Harrison's wrists. As he laughed, his breath hit Harrison's nose, and Harrison couldn't help but revel in how minty his breath actually smelled. It's not every day you run into someone with proper dental health. However, all at once Harrison realized his own breath probably smelled like a dumpster in the summer time and promptly shut his mouth tightly and told himself not to talk directly into Whatshisname's face if possible.

"Okay," the employee continued, and Harrison forgot for a moment that he was even talking. "Maybe we have a lot more to fix than I thought we did." We? The younger man reached up and wiped the fresh tears from Harrison's face and Harrison felt his cheeks heat up again as he shivered for the second time that morning. He dared not look back at the man's face, for fear of how his body would react _then_.

Whatshisname stared at Harrison for a while longer, then continued "I'm sorry I forced you down like this. Do you at least understand my point of view?" Harrison thought about it for a while as his eyes began to dry from his previous tears. Honestly, he didn't see why his employee cared this much. They didn't interact at all at work, and any time they _did_ talk, Harrison was always mean to him. Harrison's death might even mean a promotion for him if he worked hard enough, and it was already clear that Whatshisname worked _very_ hard. Harrison... didn't understand his point of view. But saying that would probably drag this uncomfortable talk on for even longer, so...

Harrison nodded, meeting his eyes to seal the deal. The man sighed and let go of Harrison's hands, pushing himself up into a sitting position. It was at that moment that Harrison realized he'd been tense the entire time, and he let himself relax against the impossibly warm bed sheets. It seemed like everything about this man was just _warm_.

Harrison shook his head, refusing to let that train of thought run off anywhere.

The man sighed and ran his fingers through his curly blond hair. Harrison took this moment of silence to really look at his employee's appearance. Neck length curly blond hair, deep blue eyes, a fair completion and a nicely defined jawline, Harrison couldn't help but think that this man was unreasonably attractive from a societal standard of thinking. He had a bit of stubble racing across his chin, and Harrison felt his face heat up with the shame of never being able to grow a proper beard. Maybe he should have considered taking testosterone or something...

Whatshisname looked at Harrison again and Harrison tensed up, realizing the man had just finished saying something and Harrison had done anything but listen to him. Thinking quickly, Harrison just nodded as if agreeing with whatever the man had just said. He smiled.

"Alright then." And with that he got off of the bed and walked out of the room, closing the door behind him.

Finally left alone, Harrison stared up at the ceiling and considered everything that'd just happened in the past... ten minutes or so. He was chased around a foreign house, locked himself in a closet, was utterly and totally dominated and dragged back into a room he had previously tried to escape from, and then was held down and comforted while he cried like an angry child. And now he'd just agreed to something had hadn't even been listening to. All because he had the audacity to fall asleep at the office and fall into a light coma by doing so. Everything could have been avoided if he'd just woken up when asked and driven himself home. Now he didn't even have a way to get himself home. Seriously, what did he think running away was going to accomplish? He didn't even know where the exit to the house was. He sighed and curled up as he rolled onto his side and stared at the wall instead. Maybe the guy had a point, now he was extremely exhausted.

Before his eyes could completely flutter closed, he came back into the room. Harrison shot up and stared at the tray of food in his hands. Whatshisname placed the tray on the bed and tilted his head.

"Why do you look so confused? You said you wanted breakfast, right? You should eat quick, it's already only lukewarm."

\--

Harrison spent the few hours or so eating breakfast and then falling back asleep shortly afterward. He was only awoken again when Whatshisname burst into the room for the third time that day and rummaged in his drawers for clothes for some reason. That time, when Harrison woke up, he felt heavy and dirty and his mouth was hot and sour. He had sat up in the bed and stared grumpily at Whatshisname, who only smiled at him and asked, "Wanna go to the park?"

"I have no clothes to wear.."

And then Harrison found himself walking past a children's playground wearing an over sized unknown rock band t-shirt and sweatpants and feeling the sudden and explicit urge to murder the sun and everything it stood for. God he hated the summer time.

It wasn't until Whatshisname nudged Harrison's arm that Harrison realized that he once again hadn't been listening to a word the employee was saying. God he was so pathetic today.

"Sorry, what?" he spoke up, glancing up at the man before looking back down at the path in front of them, "I was distracted.

"It's fine. I just asked if you wanted to sit down for a while. You seem unreasonably sweaty and cranky." Harrison couldn't help but think that he always seemed unreasonably sweaty and cranky, but agreed to sit down anyways, and they soon found a nearby bench to rest on.

As Harrison collapsed onto the bench beside his employee, he let out a long and deep groan. How could he feel this disgusting and tired already? They were _walking_ and they'd _barely started_. He looked over at the man beside him, who was chugging water and bouncing his leg like his life depended on it. After chugging about half the bottle, he sighed in satisfaction and then looked over at Harrison before holding the bottle out to him, a question in his eyes.

"No thanks. I'm not a fan of... sharing saliva." The man shrugged again and put the cap back onto the bottle.

"Suit yourself, although that's a weird fear to have. No offense." Harrison glared and he chuckled. "I mean it! No offense! I just think that it might get in the way of being intimate with a partner. Not that I'm trying to be inappropriate either, just saying what's on my mind, sorry."

Harrison had thought of this before, how was he supposed to kiss people if he'd never want to share saliva with anyone? Not that he hadn't kissed anyone before, he'd just never been committed, and as a result he'd never had a full on make out session before. Just chaste kisses here and there, sometimes a bit more passionate than that, but never sharing more saliva than was required. Which he supposed was weird, that he could be intimate sexually but not romantically, and the thought sort of made him sad for himself. Would he ever find a girlfriend?

Remembering that he was actually in the middle of something of a conversation, he shook the thought out of his head and sighed. "No, it's fine. Yeah, it's weird. I just sort of find it hard to be intimate romantically I guess..." Why was he sharing this? With an employee no less? Is this what it was like for his coworkers when they went out drinking? Just talking about weird stuff?

"Ah," Whatshisname responded, leaning back on the bench and looking up as a particularly fluffy cloud passed over the glaring hot sun. "That's understandable. But sometimes. in the moment, your fears just turn out to mean nothing to you. Like if you were deathly afraid of spiders, but you had to get through a room of them to save your daughter from dying a horrible painful death. You'd run through that room like those spiders meant nothing to you." He looked back at Harrison. "Just like when you love someone enough, you'd kiss the hell out of them even if you'd hate it initially."

Harrison nodded. "I guess so... But I doubt that will ever happen."

"What why??" Harrison pursed his lips, not sure he was willing to answer his fears about not ever getting a girlfriend at this point. Instead he just averted his gaze and shrugged. As if reading his mind, though, Whatshisname continued with, "It's never too late to find love."

Harrison shrugged again, not really taking his words to heart. He felt a hand on his shoulder and he jumped slightly. He looked back up to see the man, staring deep into his eyes with a serious expression on his face. Harrison got that feeling again, of wanting to back down to whatever was happening, but this time he just looked on in surprise and dared not say anything.

"It's never too late to find love, Harrison," he repeated, and Harrison felt his face light up against his will. He tried to look away, but that just made the younger man tighten his grip on Harrison's shoulder.

"How do you know my name?" he asked, deciding to change the subject.

The man just chuckled and let go of his shoulder. "Why wouldn't I know your name? We sort of work very closely together." Not really, Harrison thought, but he supposed he did know _his_ bosses first names. It would only make sense. Then, after Harrison had been quiet for a while longer, the man asked, "Do you know my name?

Of course, it's Whatshisname, right? Harrison gulped and bit his lip, racking his brain for an answer.

"Jaaaason..?" That sounded right anyways.

The man laughed and shook his head silently. Harrison couldn't help but feel ashamed as he was being laughed at, and he moved his hand to his lap while staring down at it.

"Jace."

"Excuse me?" Harrison looked back up.

"My name is Jace. Jace Woodrow, at your service of course. You were close though!"

Jace. Harrison supposed it was pretty close to Jason. Maybe he had heard the name once, but never registered it as as weird as it actually was. Jace. Weird.

"You don't look like a Jace," he found himself saying before he could stop himself. The man, Jace, laughed again.

"What do I look like?"

Harrison thought for a while. It was obvious, but he wasn't going to say it. "An Angel." Nevermind, he said it. He felt himself blush once again as he furrowed his eyebrows at himself for failing to stop the speech signals from reaching his lips before it was too late.

Instead of laughing at him again, though, Jace just raised an eyebrow. "Is that a compliment towards me then?" Harrison shook his head. "Is it okay if I take it as one anyways?" Another shake of Harrison's head. "How are you going to stop me?"

"I'll.. Fire you."

"You have that authority?"

"Shut up, stupid angel." Harrison suddenly felt surprised. He'd usually never speak to one of his employees like that, and he was almost afraid that he'd pushed a boundary too far, but Jace just laughed in response, and Harrison couldn't help the smile that faintly broke across his face. It felt comfortable for some reason.

"Well, we should get back," and with that, Jace stood up. Harrison did as well, and they turned around and began walking back towards the direction of Jace's house. They were quiet the rest of the way, but Harrison couldn't help but wish they could have another moment like the time they were sitting on the bench just then. Weird.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is not beta read, because I had to finish this quickly before I go to work. Hope you enjoyed though. As always, comments are appreciated.


	3. Um, child

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Harrison spends lunch time with his new "favorite" employee, falling deeper into his own delusions.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was originally gonna be way longer, but I'm having trouble finding words to express the next course of actions without feeling like things are moving too fast in the story. So think of this as sort of.. part one of Harrison spending the day with Jace.
> 
> I also spent like three days writing this, so I hope my efforts to try to make it appealing to you guys worked, heh.
> 
> Stay safe out there with the current virus outbreak, and thanks in advance for reading!

Little Harrison had had lots of problems growing up. To begin with, he was born weeks earlier than he should have been, and he came out as a frail, yellow little thing, unable to leave the hospital for the better part of a month. Then, he was a weak child, with early joint problems and weak bones. All the milk in the world couldn't prevent him from breaking at least one bone every summer. Even then, as a teenager, he was diagnosed with a large cyst sitting right on the base of his spine, stunting his growth. At just 5'3" at the age of 14, Harrison wouldn't grow another inch.

At first, Harrison was less than happy about not being like the other tall boys at his high school, in fact he cried about it. Multiple times. Even got bullied for it. But over time, Harrison realized power wasn't just about how tall you were or how manly you looked. It was more like... how confident you were in how much smarter you were than those around you. And Harrison had no trouble as a kid proving to his underachieving classmates that he definitely had an easier time in school than them. Especially when those same bullies of his came crawling back to kiss his boots after begging for help on their upcoming math tests.

And now Harrison was one of the bosses of an extremely successful company. A company that sold kinky sex toys but that's not the point, Harrison was a boss. And it showed in the way he presented himself and interacted with his employees. He was respectful, and as a result was respected, which only proved to make those around him even more eager to please. To earn the favor of such a soft spoken yet politically dominant man was something to be sought out. And Harrison liked that.

However, comma, what Harrison  _ didn't _ like, was that one of these so called "eager to please" employees, who was supposed to be treating Harrison like a god and actually listening to his wise 35 year old knowledge, now held out a plate of peeled apple slices and looked down on Harrison like the child he so wished he wasn't.

"I'm not eating those," Harrison spat, crossing his arms in disgust. "And frankly, how dare you."

Jace frowned and placed the plate on the table in front of Harrison anyways. "You have to eat something, it's already an hour past lunch. Do you just not like apples?"

"It's not the apples I don't like-"

"Did you want the skin to be on them?"

"That's not the issue either-"

"I can cut them into little bunny shapes if you want."

"Can you fucking listen to me for two god damn seconds?!"

Jace sat in the seat across from Harrison and folded his arms in front of him, even going so far as to mimic zipping his lips closed before he focused on Harrison's glaring face. Fed up, Harrison just sighed and shook his head. Realistically, Harrison wouldn't even be eating "lunch" right now, he almost never does. But as soon as they'd gotten back from the walk to the park, Jace went right to the kitchen and suggested a "healthy lunch," that had quickly devolved, after Harrison's defiant arguing, into a "healthy snack." Which Harrison supposed was better than having to eat another full meal, but peeled apples? It was just too much.

"I appreciate the kindness, I really do," Harrison began again after somehow managing to regain his composure, "but for the love of all that is holy, or cursed, really, did you have to cut up the apple? I would have been fine with an apple like the one you're holding!"

Jace took a bite of his own, whole, apple while musing over Harrison's words. Then he just, heh, shrugged, like he had the authority to after Harrison was five seconds away from murdering his own employee in cold blood.

"It just seemed appropriate given the situation and our relationship."

Harrison couldn't help but chuckle as if he was losing his mind and no one else was noticing except himself. "What relationship?"

Jace opened his mouth to say something, then closed it again. "You'll get mad at me if I tell you what I think.'

"Of course I will, but I still want you to tell me." This time it was Jace's turn to chuckle, except his sounded more genuine.

"Harrison, I truly believe you have no idea how to take care of yourself. No offense, boss." Harrison could feel his eye twitch involuntarily. "From what I've seen of you these past few months, the only thing you worry about is making money for the company and.. that's it. Just money, just other people."

Despite seeing Harrison's glowering gaze at this point, Jace decided to put down his apple and continue. "You know how in contests there's a first second and third place? Well imagine that's how people's priorities are. Their first priority, then their second, then their third. For normal people, their priorities have either themselves or their loved ones as first, then their loved ones or themselves as second, depending on which was first of course, and then whatever other important thing they have going on in their life like their job or the people they work for, or even their surfing career or something." Harrison rolled his eyes. "But for you, Mr. Clements, I believe your hierarchy of priorities is quite different. Up first you have, of course, your job. Then you have the people you're closed to in second. And then that's it. Those are your priorities."

Harrison snorted. "That's-"

"I'm not done, Mr. Clements." Jace raised his folded hands to rest under his chin and narrowed his eyes, as if analyzing Harrison as the smaller man fidgeted uncomfortably in his seat. "I truly believe that when making decisions you have no concept of self preservation besides what's required for survival, and that just comes from basic animal survival instincts. Tell me, Mr. Clements, have you ever taken a self help day?"

"I have no clue what that is."

"Use context clues, sir."

Harrison sighed. "Is it like a spa day or something?"

"It doesn't have to be."

Harrison looked away for a moment and considered the words. It seemed pretty straightforward in meaning, a day taken to, well, help yourself. But what kind of things were supposed to, well.. help oneself? Something that didn't  _ have _ to be a spa day, even. He picked up an apple slice and inspected it before placing it on his tongue and chewing slowly. Maybe it meant.. physical things like working out or doing yoga.

"I don't know," he said finally, swallowing the mashed fruit, "like focusing on your physique and stuff?"

Jace tilted his head from side to side, nodding. "It can be. If you're already emotionally stable." Ah, emotions. That kind of help. Still made no sense to Harrison, how do you "help" emotions without happy pills or something of that kind, but Jace must have been the expert in the room because Harrison most certainly knew nothing about it. He picked up and munched on another apple.

"So tell me, Jace, what's a self help day? Or better yet, how does one participate in a self help day?"

"Many ways, Mr. Clements, and many methods. It depends on what your emotional and physical troubles are. A very common thing to do is to meditate, make yourself feel better mentally and bring your mind to a state of self awareness and peace. But sometimes people have specific things to work on. Take, for example, someone with anger issues. Yes, meditation may help them a little bit, but what they really need is to talk out their anger and get to the root of why they're having that problem in the first place. And that itself has many ways of happening..! They can lead themselves through a catharsis, maybe shouting out their problems into a safe space until their mind leads them to a revelation. Or they can take their anger out on a pillow or dummy while focusing on projecting every bit of anger they have into this harmless doll. Or they can even go through meditation to find the root of their problems there."

"What's your point in all this?" By now Harrison had eaten half of his apple slices and he was starting to feel quite sated, as much as he hated to admit it to himself.

"My point is, you need to do this kind of thing. Figure out what you need to work on and find a way to work on it. Take baby steps to get your priorities back in an acceptable state so you don't end up getting yourself killed over something easily avoidable. So far we've made a small amount of progress. Tell me, how are you feeling after getting a breath of fresh air and filling your body with nature's candy?"

Harrison thought about it for a while. Honestly, this would usually be a part in his day where he felt grumpy or tired, maybe even dirty despite having showered earlier in the morning. Harrison showers every morning, in fact.

But in that moment, Harrison actually felt... calm. He didn't think he'd be able to listen to this stupid lecture without wanting to rip his hair out but here he was already three minutes in and he was actually kind of listening to the man. And all he had to do was walk outside and eat an apple? Maybe Jace was onto something.

He shrugged in response, not wanting to give his employee too much credit. "Better, I guess." He paused. "Is that really what health junkies call fruits?"

Jace laughed. "Let's not focus on that, let's focus on how you're feeling. When's the last time you felt the way you feel now?"

Harrison shrugged again. "A while? I guess?"

"You guess?"

"I don't keep track of all the days I feel better than other days. There could be some confounding variables in this experiment. For one, I probably sweat off about seven pounds of water weight when we went out walking earlier, and when I feel fatter I feel less happy."

"But isn't that just another reason to go out more, to feel less, er, fat, excuse me."

Harrison finished his apples and just shrugged again. At this point, it was easy to see that whatever Jace's point was, he was right. Harrison did actually feel way better. Would he ever admit that? No. Especially not to this cocky asshole who, just to reiterate, quite literally stole Harrison from his job and now is forcing Harrison to stay and eat food that he was very clear he did not want to eat. For all Harrison cared, Jace could try to prove a point for hours, Harrison wasn't going to give him the satisfaction of seeing himself right.

They sat in silence for a while, Jace's apple slowly turning brown from the oxidization while he eyes Harrison curiously. Harrison refused to meet his eyes, staring instead out of the nearby window over Jace's sink. It was so bright outside today. And so, so very hot. Thank goodness Jace's place had air conditioning. If only outside had that feature.

Unconsciously, Harrison raised his arm and put his nose towards his pit, taking a tentative sniff and then pulling his face away with a grimace. Jace just laughed, harder than Harrison'd seen him laugh all day, and Harrison felt his face heat up in embarrassment.

"Shut up, I didn't get a chance to shower today, and I was sweating all over myself outside earlier."

"Sorry, my apologies really." Jace slowly regained himself, smirking down at the older man. "Do you want to take a shower now?"

\--

Harrison sighed, allowing himself to lean back against the tub as the white plastic around him slowly began to heat up to match the temperature of the water he lay in. It felt so nice to get himself clean after the hell he had to endure with their stupid walk to the park. Honestly he has no idea why he even went on the trip with Jace. Maybe he just wasn't thinking straight after he'd woken up from his nap earlier, and just wanted to move his joints for a while. Little did he know what he was getting himself into as soon as he stepped outside.

He honestly felt kind of bad that he had to wear Jace's clothes just to leave the house. He just didn't think it was appropriate to wear a disheveled and dirty smelling suit out to a place where children and families might be trying to enjoy their morning without having to see an exhausted man child look like he just walked out from the bar after a long night of drinking away the lingering anger from his ex wife's divorce. But Jace is the one who offered to give Harrison the clothes anyways, so really it was Jace's fault. And even now, once Harrison stepped out, Jace said he'd have an outfit ready for Harrison because Harrison literally didn't have anything to wear at this point. He used to at least have his underwear and socks, but now those had served their purpose and without them Harrison would be naked. He audibly groaned at the idea of having to wear another man's underwear just to appear decent to the public.

He sighed and raised his hands out of the warm water, running his damp fingers through his hair and down his face. Usually, Harrison wouldn't be caught dead in a bath. Jace had insisted, though, even going so far as to put smelling salts and bubbles into the bath, and even lighting a few scented candles on the bathroom counter. And whilst it all smelt really nice, Harrison couldn't help but feel terrible. He was doing it again. Harrison was being deliberately  _ babied. _

He'd noticed it before with the apples, and back in the park when he had to ask Harrison if he wanted to rest. He could see it every time Jace looked at him. There was just so much.. pity. Every time they made eye contact, Harrison felt like a preschooler being babysat by a man who was ten times taller than him. "Do you want to go to the park, Harrison?" "What do you want for lunch, Harrison?" "Do you want to take a shower now, Harrison? Remember to wash behind your ears." Every time he talked to Harrison it was like he was legally obligated to say the things he said or else Harrison's would seriously hurt himself. Or worse, or else Harrison's parents would fire him.

Harrison wasn't a child, he knew he wasn't a child. He was 35, he'd been through the hell that was puberty, he'd even been through college and worked at a large company for several years after that. He'd survived this long and was just fine, so why did Jace feel the need to act as if Harrison was fresh out of the room and didn't yet know that you're not supposed to touch a stove while it's on cause it's vewy vewy ouchie.

Harrison growled and slapped angrily at the water. Fucking younger men, they always though they were better than you in every way. Newsflash, a 15 year difference doesn't mean anything, they still grew up in the same era and would still die in the same era. Fuck off.

Harrison let himself be submerged in the warm water and held his breath there for a while. He could feel his black hair float up in weightless tendrils around him, and in a way he found himself feeling jealous. Young, successful,  _ and _ good looking, it was like Jace had won the lottery of life. He'd probably continue to win it too, he was far from hitting his peak. He'd probably find a beautiful wife, have beautiful children, end up owning his own company. All while Harrison sat in the same desk job for the majority of his life and ended up dying early because of injuries caused from stress, something pathetic like that. And whilst Harrison wasn't completely opposed to having a boring life, he certainly still felt jealous about it.

In fact, Harrison would love to just have a boring life from here on out. Not that he hated the idea of having a significant other, but they tended to just cause problems. And Harrison was sure he enjoyed working his at job, even if it was stressful. He'd be fine working there and retiring one day once he was old enough. For now, he wasn't trying to change his life significantly by adding in other people or other life goals. All he wanted to do was get through his days, and then have that be it. Maybe then he could get into the more "exciting" stuff, like golf or watching football, which he hated. But right now, life was okay. He didn't need it to be good, just okay.

Maybe he'd even start doing the stupid self help stuff if it meant Jace would get off his back and he could go back to enjoying his life the way he was used to. Or.. maybe he and Jace could even become weird friends. Go out drinking on the weekends, invite Harrison to Jace's kids' birthday parties. Jace could brag to Harrison about how good his life was and Harrison could... listen. That sounded somewhat nice. Laid back, in a way. Who needed to be successful when you could just listen to the successful tales of your successful friend? Who... treated you like a baby..

Harrison scowled and pulled his head out of the water, taking big gulps of air as he rubbed the suds out of his eyes before opening them. Fuck, how long was he under that water? He coughed a bit and straightened up in the tub.

"Everything alright in there?" He flinched, hearing the voice come from right outside the door. Was Jace fucking listening to him?

"Why are you listening to me bathe?"

"I.. wasn't..! I was just.. I heard you drowning."

Harrison rolled his eyes. "Not drowning. Or at least, not accidentally. I just held my head under the water for a bit too long."

"Are you trying to kill yourself now?"

"What's it to you anyways?"

"You know this door isn't locked, right?"

Harrison eyes widened. Had he actually forgotten to lock the door? With this maniac living in the house?? Stupid stupid man. He growled and pulled himself into a standing position. He was half way towards the door before he heard Jace say, "You don't have to lock it, you know. I'm not going to come into the bathroom, I just wanted you to know that no acts of self harm will be permitted in this house, Mr. Clements."

Permitted? It was like every sentenced Jace forced out of his mouth was perfectly formed to make Harrison feel inadequate in any way possible. Fucking permitted.

"You sound like my father," Harrison growled, locking the door anyways. "After I've thrown cheerios at my little sister for the umpteenth time."

"You have a little sister?"

Harrison pursed his lips as he walked back to the tub and climbed inside. "Yeah. Why?"

"Oh, it just seems like a coincidence! I do too." What was this guy on, was it crack? Sounded like he was on crack. Or ADHD, which wasn't a drug but it might as well be for this guy. "I had two sisters, Hansa and Greta."

"What, like Hansel and Gretel? But.. weirder somehow?"

"Yeah, my parents weren't very imaginative." He chuckled. "But they were twins."

"Were twins?"

"Yeah.. Hansa is... no longer with us."

Oh. Way to ruin the mood. Harrison looked down at his toes, curling and relaxing them a few times to make himself feel less awkward. He'd love to ask more, but that'd be inconsiderate, right? Especially since... he was still talking to this idiot from inside of the bathroom.

So instead, he just said, "Mine's name is Riley. But I usually just call her Riles."

Jace chuckled again. "I bet she really used to  _ Rile _ you up, huh?

Harrison dunked his head back under the water to drown out Jace's laughter.


	4. A lot of eye avoidance

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jace and Harrison talk  
> And talk  
> And talk a bit more  
> Until Jace decides to stop talking

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter took literally a week to write. I ebbed in and out of having motivation to continue it, and I also rewrote the beginning of it about 5 times. I am very bad at writing... anything that's not just full smut. And even then it's iffy.
> 
> That being said, I'm actually not sure I like this chapter very much. Not even enough to beta read it, so I'm just gonna post it and hope for the best! Hooray Marion, you're so productive.
> 
> Anyways it's done and here for you! There is, sadly, nothing saucy in this chapter, but worry not, all will be solved the next time you read this story~

After Harrison got out of the bath, he opened the door to find a towel and several articles of clothing sitting by it. He pulled them into the bathroom, dried himself off, got dressed, and stepped back out to find Jace sitting on his bed with his eyes closed.

Once Harrison walked in, closing the door behind him, he couldn't help the look of confusion that crossed his face. "Um, am I interrupting something?"

Jace opened his eyes and smiled. "Finally, you're done. Come, sit." He patted the space beside him. Harrison stood still and watched his expression for a moment before slowly making his way over and sitting beside Jace. "Close your eyes." Harrison obeyed. "Take a deep breath." He obeyed again. "Hold it for one, two, three, and exhale." More obeying. "Good. How are you feeling today, Harrison?"

"Do you want me to be honest? Fucking weird. I have no idea why I'm still at your house."

"Emotionally, Harrison."

Harrison sighed and thought for a while. "Empty, I guess. I don't really feel anything right now, just tired."

"Tired like you want to take a nap?"

"Tired like I want to take a small coma."

Jace laughed. "That's not a good thing to hear."

"Yeah, well, you wanted the truth." Harrison opened his eyes and leaned back on the palms of his hands, looking hard at Jace's unseeing face. "So now what, have I reached Nirvana yet?"

Jace opened his eyes and met Harrison's stare, smiling. "Not quite, but we'll get there." Harrison huffed and rolled his eyes. "Bored already?"

"When are you taking me home?"

Jace straightened out his legs and hummed in thought, no longer meeting Harrison's gaze. "I find it strange how you’re constantly avoiding the topic at hand, when I have reason to believe that talking out your feelings will in fact make you feel better. Can’t we talk for a bit longer?”

Harrison raised an eyebrow. “What reason told you that, exactly?”

“Come on, Harrison. Work with me here. I know you probably hate me right now for keeping you captive here or whatever, and I’d love nothing more than to take you home-”

“Then take me home.”

Harrison was being ignored. “But I really do just want to talk with you. You know.” He met Harrison’s eyes with a smile. “Help you through self improvement. I’ve been wanting to get to talk to you like this for a really long time, and now that you’re here, I’m excited to actually get to the root of your problems with you.”

Harrison huffed and glared. “So what, are you my therapist now? Am I just supposed to magically just lay down and open up to you? Say ‘Well I guess it all just started when I was born’ and then  _ magically _ my stress and fears will dissipate into nothingness? I don’t think you understand how formal relationships work.” Jace’s smile quickly turned into a frown as Harrison’s face lit up in frustration. Which was embarrassing, to say the least, but Harrison could worry about that after he was done ripping his employee a new one.

He straightened up and met Jace’s gaze, mustering up as much anger and ferocity as he could manage, his heart quickly matching the pace of the angry thoughts running through his head.

“Let me get this straight with you, Mr. Woodrow,” he almost  _ spat _ , “I don’t owe you anything. I don’t owe you my feelings, I don’t owe you my kindness, I most certainly don’t owe you my  _ sob story _ . You are  _ not _ my therapist, nor are you in any position to act like one. You are my fucking employee and I’m fucking OLDER than you. The only reason I’m here talking to you is because you not only won’t take me home, but I get the feeling that if I tried to do something else in this god forsaken house, you’d FORCE me to talk to you, so really this whole thing is just pointless if you’re making me do something I don’t want to do, right?” Jace stared. “Right?!” Jace nodded.

“Furthermore, I find your behavior to be quite the condescending prick. Not that you aren’t always like this, but even more so now that you’ve got me in some compromised state that you, once again, FORCED ME INTO!” Jace was quick to open his mouth to retort, but Harrison was faster. “I don’t want to hear another protest come out of your mouth,  _ employee _ . I want to be taken home, I want to stop being treated like a  _ child _ , and I want this to be the end of this-this,” he gestures his hand wildly towards Jace’s frowning face, “therapist bullshit! Do I make myself clear, Mr. Woodrow?” 

Jace stared at Harrison for a long while. Harrison could feel his own anger emanating from within his very core the longer Jace’s stare was stretched on. Several pictures flashed through his head of the various ways he could strangle this guy and then drive to work, or at least just punch this guy in the face. The nerve of this guy as Harrison awaited an answer was infuriating. But he decided to give Jace the benefit of the doubt. In his defence, he’d probably never gotten yelled at like that before from a superior, especially since he was such a special little prodigy who never did anything wrong.

Time seemed to stretch on forever as Harrison stared down his employee. After about thirty seconds, Harrison was starting to wonder if his employee was about ready to break down into tears because of him. But he couldn’t just take back what he said now? It was Jace’s fault for getting so sensitive about it at this point. Before Harrison could delve into this new idea and end up feeling bad for it, though, Jace finally gave him an answer.

He laughed. Right into Harrison’s shocked face. Laughed like a giddy little child being told about the tooth fairy for the first time ever. He looked so happy with himself as he broke Harrison’s happiness and dreams of authority for the umpteenth time since Harrison had met him.

Harrison’s jaw dropped as his gaze fell away from his employee. He suddenly felt the extreme urge to get as far away from this guy as possible. Harrison wasn’t the type of person to cry, but now he felt like crying. This guy had been nothing but trouble since the second they happened to meet eyes across the officespace. The stupid smile he’d given Harrison that day. What a jerk.

“I’m sorry!” Jace suddenly interrupted his thoughts. At this point, Harrison would love to just ignore this guy and to go hide in that linen closet from earlier until he finally decided to take Harrison home, but it turns out this guy could easily catch him if he did that. He’d save that option for later.

“I’m sorry,” he repeated, “really. I was trying not to laugh. I know you were being serious, but I just didn’t think about it that way at all.”

Harrison uncrossed his arms. “What way?”

“Like, as us being boss and employee. I mean, yeah that’s technically what we are, but I thought since we were out of work, we didn’t have to keep that whole thing up. That we could just be friends.” Harrison stared at him. “Not that I don’t respect you, and I guess I have been kinda condescending. But, I dunno. I just.. Care that you find happiness. You always seem so sad. I was hoping I could help somehow.”

“And you thought that by being my ‘friend-’”

“No no, well yes. But you make it sound like I’m being selfish.”

“You are being selfish.”

Jace laughed again. “You don’t have to actually be my friend, I just wanted to help point you in the right direction. You can go off and get an actual therapist after this, maybe actual friends, but I just want to let you know that you can actually be happy.”

“And what if I was just fine with the life I had before?”

“Well,” he paused, weighing his words. “Your life as it is is kinda toxic. Self destructive. Think of it this way, if someone’s abusing alcohol, and you’re very clearly aware of it, but no one else is helping them and if they keep it up they’ll end up killing themselves, do you just watch it happen or do you step in and do something.

Harrison supposed it made sense.. But still.

“You’re aware you’re being an asshole about it, right?”

Jace laughed  _ yet again _ . “Yeah, I could definitely be going about it a better way. Allow me to formally apologize.” Harrison hummed, not amused. “And to ask for your forgiveness and a redo on this whole friendship thing.”

“You want me to pretend like you’re not a condescending prick.”

“It’ll be easier if I also don’t act like one.”

“I have trouble believing you can manage that.”

Jace sighed. “I deserve this horrible treatment, but Harrison, I really am sorry. I shouldn’t have treated you like a kid who didn’t know any better.”

Harrison watched him for a while longer, then sighed. “So does that mean you’ll take me home?”

“If you really want to go home, I’ll take you, but I really do want to spend time with you. Maybe not as your condescending, under qualified therapist, but as your friend. Please?”

“You’re actually begging me?” Harrison scoffed. “How lonely are you?”

“Extremely.”

At this, Harrison could feel laughter bubbling up in his throat. He didn’t actually laugh, of course, but the feeling was definitely there.

He was silent for a while. He didn’t try looking back up at Jace, but he could tell he was probably pouting at him. It almost made him feel.. Sad for him. Now  _ he _ was turning into the condescending prick. But really, maybe this guy did just want a friend. Weird that he wanted to be friends with his boss, but Harrison had met weirder people.

“Okay,” he replied finally, “I’ll ignore your blatant condescending prickishness.”

Jace held his hand out to Harrison, and against Harrison’s better judgement, he took his hand and shook it. It was a surprisingly nice handshake. No wonder this guy was hired.

“But can I still ask you about your mental health state..?”

“Hmm how about no?” A look of disappointment crossed Jace’s face for a split second. Barely long enough for Harrison to notice it, but it was noticed. He pulled his hand from Jace’s grip as a few hundred thoughts flashed through his mind in a short moment. “But I guess you can keep helping me improve or whatever you think you’re doing. I don’t want to talk about it with you, but feeling nice is… nice.”

Jace’s face lit up as he gave a short nod. “Can do, Mr. Clements. But then, what kind of things can we talk about together..?”

Harrison was once again silent, thinking for a while longer. “You want to be my friend, right? Talk about friend stuff.” But what did friends even talk about? Harrison was quickly realizing that it’d been much too long since he’d actually had a “friend” to talk about “friend stuff” with. Last time he’d had a normal conversation that he wasn’t uncomfortable with was, god.. College? And even then, he’d hated college.

College was full of people who he could actually relate to, people who were failing just as many classes as he was and had no idea what to do with their lives just as much as he did. Sure, everyone had different personalities and such, but they were all basically cardboard cutouts of the same person from alternate realities. But after Harrison left college, his life was a lot quieter. Less parties, more taxes, and less friends, but also surprisingly less one night stands. Who knew Harrison’s prime would have been at the age of 19…

Sitting in front of Jace, a man who quite clearly had several more years of his prime to live out, and trying to come up with conversation topics that’d make the air around them a little less tense was turning out to be a very jarring experience for Harrison. He all of a sudden felt like a high school freshman who had just gotten his lunch on the first day of school and very clearly didn’t know where to sit and eat it at, or who to sit and eat it with. And in Harrison’s experience, since he was new to town when he was a highschool freshman, that was most probably the worst experience of his life. Just when he thought he’d escaped it, here he was.

Time seemed to stretch on as Harrison and Jace refused to meet each other’s eyes. Neither Harrison nor Jace expected they’d have to be the one to say the first thing. Harrison, because Jace was very obviously the young spunky guy who always knew how to be amiable to someone. And Jace because… well we don’t know why he thinks that because this story is in third person limited. He might not have even been thinking that at all, actually.

What  _ was _ he thinking, Harrison began to wonder. Was he also being awkward, or was he trying to be courteous to Harrison and wait for him to talk first? That was a thing people did with their elders, right? Harrison didn’t know, he  _ hated _ people older than him. Hated talking to them, hated thinking about them. Even his own parents.

God,  _ fuck _ his parents.

What was going on again? Oh, right, the awkward silence between the two grown men sitting cross legged on the younger man’s bed. Still just… silent. And awkward. Harrison had to say  _ something _ .

“Okay how about,” Harrison paused, considering, “we talk about something we have in common. Like work! Let’s talk about work.”

“Like… how many spreadsheets I have to do daily?” Jace pursed his lips.

“It doesn’t have to be that, exactly. You make it sound boring. Work can be fun.”

“Is that what you tell yourself when you’re sitting at your desk past midnight wondering why your life took you down the road of being a sleep deprived workaholic?”

“I’m not a workaholic.”

“What’s the definition of workaholic?”

Harrison thought for a while. “Well it’s not like I don’t enjoy having something to do. I’d rather work than sit at home and not know what I’m doing with my life.”

“Fair enough. But that doesn’t mean work’s not boring.”

“Ah-ah.  _ Less _ boring than sitting at home not knowing what to do with my life.”

Jace’s eyebrows raised. “Still boring.”

“And yet you decided to work there, so who’s the real weirdo?”

“I’m not calling you a weirdo,” he chuckled, shaking his head. “I’m just saying that of all the things there is to do out there, working is on the bottom of the tier list.” Harrison opened his mouth to retort. “Right above sitting at home and not knowing what to do with your life.” He closed his mouth.

Jace had an amused look on his face as he rolled his eyes and continued, “But since you want to talk about work so much, fine. How much pride do you take in your company, Mr. Clements?” He held out an imaginary microphone to Harrison’s face. Harrison glanced down at his hand before giving him an incredulous look.

“I’m very.. Proud.. Of my company? What kind of question is that?” Jace moved the microphone back to his own face.

“Oh really? What’s our motto?”

Once again the invisible microphone was back on Harrison’s increasingly reddened face. “Our motto? Well of course, it’s ah… um… something to do with singing.”

“That’s not the motto, Mr. Clements.”

“I actually don’t like this topic, anymore. It seems a bit inappropriate.” Was the room suddenly getting hot and uncomfortable or was it just Harrison?

Jace sighed and dropped the microphone into non existence. “You really don’t know our motto?”

“I know the motto..! I just-”

“Then why not say it?”

Harrison raised an eyebrow. “Why don’t you say it?”

Jace cleared his throat and straightened up, as if waiting for his cue to say his line. “Opera toys, so good we’re guaranteed to make you sing.” He finished it off with a smile that for some reason made Harrison feel a little sick to his stomach.

“Yeah, right. Like I said. Something about screaming.”

Now the microphone was back up. “So, riddle me this, Harrison. Have you ever tested out these words in your own free time?”

“That’s not a riddle.”

“Don’t avoid the question. Have you, Harrison Clements of Opera Corporation, ever used one of your own toys?”

By now, Harrison was constantly failing to meet Jace’s eyes. Seemed like he was having a lot of trouble doing that today.

“Seems like a kind of inappropriate question..”

“You’re the one who wanted to talk about work, Harrison.” Even without glancing up, he could tell Jace had just the shittiest shit-eating grin on his face. Harrison had definitely pushed himself into this corner he’d made for himself. It was almost like Jace had been expecting it. Maybe that’s what he’d been thinking about earlier..

But that was impossible, right? There’s no way he’d have expected Harrison to want to talk about work. It was a coincidence. Things just happened to line up perfectly for Harrison to make a fool of himself… Even if it wasn’t a coincidence, what would have been the point of leading the conversation down this path? To watch Harrison crash and burn on live television? Certainly not.

What the fuck was Harrison even thinking about, the microphone was fucking fake.

“Harrison?” Harrison begrudgingly glanced back up at Jace’s face. “You still haven’t answered my question. It’s just a yes or no, I don’t need any details.”

How ironic that despite Harrison’s clear avoidance of workplace topics like this one, here he was stuck with probably one of his least favorite people at the job asking him exactly this kind of question. The universe had some funny ideas about what it considered necessary for him to experience.

Nevertheless, Harrison swallowed and opened his mouth to reply. Might as well just give the guy what he wanted before he started making unwanted assumptions. Or maybe he was just bound to make unwanted assumptions. Either way, Harrison’s silence wouldn’t be causing anything, right? It  _ is _ just a yes or no after all.

“I, uh..” What was the question again? “No. I haven’t. I’ve never really seen it as something I’m required to do.”

Jace nodded slowly, staring straight through Harrison’s soul. Harrison felt the need to look away again, but he stood his ground. It’s just a casual work conversation. Just a simple yes or no question about Harrison’s life outside of work. It wasn’t really all that prying.. No need to feel so cramped and uncomfortable and unnecessarily flustered and was Jace leaning closer or was it just Harrison’s imagination?

“Excuse me for asking, Mr. Clements,” Harrison quickly decided that Jace was, in fact, not excused, but he continued anyways, “but why not? Don’t you think you should make sure that the product your company is selling should be keeping the promises your company has made to its customers.”

Harrison swallowed again. “That’s not my job. There are.. Testers.”

“Yes but how do you know they’re not just lying to get the product out there and to make more money. Companies lie all the time, it’s a common practice. By testing out the stuff yourself, you can make sure for certain that the toys actually  _ are _ so good they make you sing. Otherwise, you’ll never know. It might not be your job, but you could at least be a little courteous to your customers.” He shrugged. “Have you no heart?”

Harrison was silent for a while, not sure how to answer. If he were being honest with himself, Jace was making.. Okay points. It wasn’t like he wasn’t making any sense. However, Harrison wasn’t going to be honest with himself. Not in this situation. He was rather uncomfortable and didn’t know where else this conversation was going to go, so he figured he had a reason to be a bit on edge about what Jace was saying. Even if it  _ did _ make a  _ little _ bit of sense.

“Even if,” he said finally, after pondering for a good twenty seconds or so, “I did try them out and I found that they weren’t as satisfactory as they say to be, what then? I’m not powerful enough to pull an item from the catalog just because I personally don’t find it pleasurable.” God this topic was making him so uncomfortable. Why couldn’t Jace just let it go?

“Good point,” Jace hummed, still somehow managing to maintain his vice grip on Harrison’s gaze. “But then you could help out with developing future toys, right? Like maybe you can decide to make dildos more ridges, vibrators with higher settings, ropes with softer or tougher feels.”

Harrison pursed his lips. “I’m not into bdsm.”

“Have you tried it before?”

“Have you tried hugging a cactus before? You might like it.”

Jace chuckled, “Maybe I would, actually. I don’t know, I’ve never tried it.” Harrison glared. He seriously had no idea what this guy was getting at. Or maybe he did, just didn’t want to think about it. Dancing around the bush always made things better, right?

“Is that the only reason?” Jace continued. Harrison found himself shaking his head before he could really think about the question being asked. “Then what else is there?”

He took a deep breath. It’s just a simple question, no need to get so worked up. Just a question. It’s just a question. Just answer the question.

He took another breath and shrugged, “I don’t have a partner to try it with.”

Jace hummed again. Harrison didn’t dare look up at him. That was the answer to the question. He didn’t know what else to say. 

“Plus,” he continued, “I don’t really like using toys when I could easily just use-” my hand, “household items.” That somehow sounded worse than saying his hand.

“You mean like your hand?” Oh okay, so he made himself sound stupid for nothing.

“Yyyyyeahhhh. My.. hand.”

Jace once again chuckled as he shook his head. “We don’t just sell sleeves, Harrison.”

“I don’t want to be tied up,” he blurted out. It was true, but also not something he thought he’d say out loud. However desperate times call for desperate things to say, and he was starting to get a little scared.

“How do you know if you’ve never tried it?”

Once again desperate to have this conversation somehow be over with, Harrison shot back, “Have  _ you _ tried it?” And just like that, the room shifted.

Jace smirked and Harrison could feel his stomach drop. He leaned forward and Harrison leaned back in tandem with him, until he could feel his center of gravity changing and he had to put an arm out behind him or he’d fall off of the bed. It seemed like the more Harrison cowered against the bed sheets, the more Jace climbed over him, smiling down at him like a lion catching a particularly meaty piece of prey. It wasn’t long before Harrison found himself on his back and Jace towering over him. The sheer warmth emanating from Jace’s proximity to him made his face light up in surprise.

He was starting to realize there were only a few paths the conversation could go down from this point.

“Funny you should say that, Harrison,” Jace suddenly spoke up, making the air around Harrison  _ rumble _ with its ferocity. It was as if Jace were growling at him, purring even. It was a weird sensation that Harrison couldn’t decide if he was amazed by or not. Hard to be amazed by anything when he was in the middle of feeling like he was about to be murdered and/or worse by someone who he’d considered to be so cute and friendly just a minute earlier. How could things have changed so fast?

Jace glanced over at his closet door from the corner of his eye as he leaned closer to Harrison’s ear and lowered his voice, “I happen to actually have some toys in my closet.” Harrison could feel Jace’s breath wash over his ear and had to actively contain a shudder from racking through his mind and body.

Harrison folded his arms over his stomach defensively as he closed his eyes. This was too weird. Too sensual and too weird. He almost wasn’t going to answer, but the fear of not answering outweighed the fear of actually answering. After all, who knew what Jace would take Harrison’s silence as.

After taking a second to regain his composure and not actually start shaking and whimpering like the child Harrison  _ knew _ Jace thought he was, he replied. Well, not really a reply more as it was a statement.

“Congratulations.” He tried to sound as nonchalant as possible. Maybe if Jace thought he was bored or uninterested, he’d stop.. Whatever he was trying to begin. However, Harrison probably sounded the most uncertain and small he’d ever heard himself sound since he got out of puberty.

Jace was still before he pulled away from Harrison’s ear. All of a sudden, he had once again regained his friendly smile from earlier. The kind of smile that Harrison almost wasn’t afraid of. Almost. He pushed himself off of Harrison and Harrison thought for a split second that the moment was over, that he’d successfully pushed the conversation into a corner and now they could move on and that would be that. But as Harrison tried to sit up again, Jace’s sudden hand on his chest was pushing him gently back into a lying down position, making his nervousness rush back in full swing.

“No wait, I have an idea,” Jace said once Harrison had gotten all the way back down on the bed. “I have the perfect idea.”

“What’s your idea?” Harrison almost regretted asking.

Jace gave him one more friendly smile before pushing himself off from the bed. “Since I already have the stuff here,” no, no no no. A feeling of sudden dread overcame Harrison’s body as he froze in his prone position on the bed.

Jace continued, “And since  _ you’re _ already here.” He started talking towards the closet. Harrison had the sudden urge to get up and try to run again. Maybe he’d be successful this time.

“Maybe we could just.” Harrison’s limbs vibrated with anxiety. The sound of Jace opening his closet door made him flinch and he curled his toes in anticipation. Jace.. wouldn’t actually..?

“Try.” Harrison had to go.

“Them.”  _ Harrison had to go _ .

Jace turned to face Harrison just as Harrison jumped up from the bed and dashed towards the door. Before he even reached it he could feel Jace’s arms wrapping around his waist and pulling him away from his goal. He struggled a bit, something that felt familiar to him all of a sudden, before giving up. He could feel more than hear Jace chuckle against him as he pulled Harrison to stand in front of his closet. Harrison could feel his eyes go wide as they landed on the contents of Jace’s closet. Jace laughed again, pressing his mouth against the shudder from earlier ran through all of Harrison’s nerves at once. Jace.. wouldn’t actually...

“ _ Together _ .”

Harrison whimpered.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading, comments are always accepted and appreciated! I read all of them, even if I may not respond to them.


	5. Gibberish

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This is the chapter where Harrison gets assaulted. And something more? Ohoho-
> 
> Should I have put a warning on this story?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Trigger warning for nonconsensual dick touching. I didn't feel like it was extreme enough to warrant a noncon tag, but just in case you really really don't like it I'll say it here. Harrison doesn't verbally consent to it, but that won't be lasting long anyways.
> 
> Harrison's the type of guy who will judge someone for buying a new product and then go out and buy the product for himself later that evening.
> 
> "That's called a hypocrite, Marion."
> 
> Yeah okay well Harrison is called a slut, any other facts we want to state? No? Okay then. Enjoy the chapter.
> 
> Also sorry it took so long to write! I've been mulling over how to write it for the past, what, two weeks? It's not that it's hard. i'm just not... good at it. So I'm sorry if it sucks. But hey! It's porn with plot, so if the porn's bad, the plot won't be.
> 
> P.S. I'll be removing some tags and then readding them as the story progresses as to make things easier for myself.

Harrison could feel the skin on his wrists being rubbed raw the more he struggled. He didn’t even know why he was struggling, the ropes felt insanely secure the way they were pressed against his arms and legs, was probably just instinct that kept him struggling this way. Like maybe there was some chance he could twist his wrist  _ just so _ and escape his binds, but then what? Try to run again? The thought almost made him laugh.

In fact he did laugh, just a little bit, but he was having trouble hearing himself over the tape keeping his lips glued shut. Real classy, of course. But it wasn’t as if he’d prefered a cloth gag to the tape, he didn’t actually fancy drooling all over himself, no matter what Jace thought of him. Although he thought he remembered catching sight of a ball gag in Jace’s box of wonders before he was quite forcefully thrown against the bed, climbed on top of, and tightly bound with his ankles to his thighs and his arms above his head. But it was hard to remember; It all happened so fast. How did things change so fast?

Harrison hummed, mulling over the details as Jace walked back to the bed and sat beside him. Harrison’s eyes darted over to his employee and he hummed again, except this time the hum was meant to be words. What words, exactly? Harrison didn’t know, just gibberish. It was easy to think of gibberish when he couldn’t actually move his mouth to form the words. But nonetheless, it was gibberish. Angry gibberish, followed by angry struggling, and an angry glare. But nonetheless, it was gibberish.

Jace shook his head and smiled. “Do you really hate it that much? I tried to be loose on the ropes, you know. I’m being nice to you.”

“If this is your version of nice, I’d hate to see what your version of flirting  _ actually _ is,” was what Harrison meant to say, but couldn’t for reasons that by now should be quite obvious. It all sort of came out as a whiny, confused, concerned hum. A lot less angry than he’d meant for it to sound, but everything seemed confusing to him at the moment.

Jace watched Harrison halfheartedly struggle for a while longer before his smile faltered into more of an uncertain grimace as he reached out to pet Harrison’s hair in a way that he probably thought was calming, but that Harrison thought felt like a serial killer moments away from making out with their victim’s very mutilated and very dead body.

However, Harrison couldn’t help but feel like killing him was the last thing Jace hoped to accomplish right now, but he couldn’t tell if that was something to be relieved or worried about. It wasn’t like he wasn’t sure what was about to happen… but he wasn’t sure what was about to happen. If that makes sense.

“Are you mad at me?” Jace asked him as he brushed a few strands of hair out of his face. Harrison just stared, not answering the question that he  _ thought _ had a very obvious answer to it. Jace just sighed and moved his hand down to Harrison’s shoulder. “I don’t want you to hate this. I just thought we could mutually enjoy some of the products we make together.”

“The only thing we make together is each other uncomfortable,” Harrison meant to say. Although he kind of felt like that was halfway untrue, what with the way Jace was currently acting as if this whole thing was premeditated, which it most likely was. But still, Harrison liked to think he made the other feel uncomfortable. In different circumstances…

Jace trailed his hand down Harrison’s torso, passing right over the center of Harrison’s chest and stomach. Harrison couldn’t help but twitch and struggle in discomfort, the tips of Jace’s fingers sending tremors up his spine. Thankfully he was still fully clothed, but he was starting to wonder how long that would last. He hummed again, moving his head to the side as Jace’s hand made its way farther down his body. Maybe if he didn’t look at it it wouldn’t actually happen.

“Did you know that even these ropes come from Opera corp? How do they feel? Too rough?”

“Yes, definitely.” Harrison once again pulled at his wrists to accentuate his point. It felt like his skin was being pulled off, even if Jace had deliberately made the knots loose like he said he had. Maybe Jace’s initial point of testing products to ensure customer satisfaction hadn’t been that far-fetched. Harrison could think of a few ways to make the rope more comfortable. Too bad that wasn’t in his job description. Life’s a bitch, huh?

But despite the fact that the rope was most definitely too rough on his skin, he was starting to realize he didn’t actually hate being tied up as much as he thought he would. Well, he  _ hated _ it, of course, but he thought he’d hate it more than he did in the moment. He thought it’d feel claustrophobic and uncomfortable, or maybe twist his joints in a way they weren’t meant to twist. Instead, it just made him feel... nervous. And a small part of his brain even felt excited. He tried to ignore that small part of his brain.

Jace’s hand making its way down to Harrison’s thigh interrupted his thoughts. It managed to find a spot that made Harrison particularly twitchy, where it lingered and rubbed menacingly. Harrison’s face contorted as he hummed again and tried to twist his body out of Jace’s grip. It didn’t work, of course, probably just made it feel worse. More intense, almost. He closed his eyes and tried to focus on other things, but his mind wouldn’t let him relax.

Jace kneaded his inner thigh like a particularly stubborn lump of bread dough, then lifted his palm away from it and let his fingernails trace up and down the length of it. Harrison squirmed at the feeling and couldn’t help but feel in that moment like a small child getting tickled by their weird sibling. Not the best thing to think in the moment, but like stated before, he couldn’t help it. He could only squirm and whimper, like said child would.

Jace just loved making Harrison feel like a child, it seemed.

Harrison took deep breaths as he tried to move his legs to keep Jace from feeling between them. He was really trying to stay calm, but panic only seemed to set in more as Jace went from tickling to kneading and rubbing back to tickling, like it was a process that would somehow calm Harrison down before the inevitable slaughter. It wasn’t, but it was nice of Jace to consider his feelings like that.

The feeling of Jace’s hand on his leg, the constant  _ rubbing _ and  _ kneading _ , began to pull Harrison’s mind into a state of wonder. It felt electric against his skin, he’d even started to think Jace was burning him somehow. It was just one hand and it already felt like too much, like every nerve in Harrison’s body was on edge, and he could feel his muscles start to cramp with the effort he was using to keep his body tense and unforgiving.

One second lasted one century while Harrison tried to keep his thoughts from wandering past his initial hatred of the situation. This couldn’t be happening. This was most definitely not something he wanted to experience today. Jace’s hands just kept moving, kept  _ feeling _ him, and it made him simultaneously want to die and just lie there and let it happen.

He couldn’t decide which fate was worse in this situation, struggling more or lying as still as possible. Were his reactions encouraging Jace? Did Jace mistake his struggling for.. pleasure? Certainly not. Not unless Jace was extremely insane. But maybe he actually was. Despite Harrison’s obvious unenjoyment, it just kept happening. More moving, kneading. More feeling. Harrison’s stomach was in knots.

Suddenly Harrison lashed out, struggling as much as he could for a second or so before tiring himself out and slumping back against the bed. Jace had recoiled his hand while Harrison struggled, but now it had returned, this time on the other thigh. Harrison groaned.

“I’m sorry, Harrison. I know you probably do hate the ropes,” he chuckled and moved closer, “but a big part of bdsm is the bondage. If I didn’t tie you up, we wouldn’t really be testing out the full extent of Opera corp’s toys, right?” His eyes met Harrison’s before Harrison could look away. “Besides, it’s just an experiment, maybe you’ll grow to like them.”

“In what situation will I be using them so much that I start liking them?” He meant to say.

Harrison’s doubts about Jace’s statement were interrupted by the sudden weight he could feel descending on his crotch. He let out something akin to a squeak as his whole body twitched and tensed harder while Jace’s hands started kneading his crotch the same way it had his thighs.

Harrison tossed his head back and forth with his face screwed up in what he thought would be a grimace if his mouth weren’t taped shut. He closed his eyes tightly when Jace’s movements started focusing more on trying to rub his dick through his pants in a way that felt both maddeningly too much and maddeningly too little at the same time. He hummed again, this time sounding more like a mixture between a groan and a whine, startling himself in the process. It sounded like a moan.

Jace chuckled. “Getting excited already?”

“The body may want what the mind does not,” Harrison meant to say. It sounded like wise words that someone had probably said somewhere at some time, and it would have made him laugh if he couldn’t already feel his thoughts slipping away from him and focusing more on the heat beginning to spread from his crotch to the rest of his body. He had half a mind to curse his stupid body for starting to want what his mind most certainly did not. He thought.

With each circular motion, Harrison could feel a different part of his body twitch involuntarily, although most of the twitches seemed to be coming from his groin in particular. He moaned again and tossed his head to the other side, looking up at Jace with a pleading look in his eyes.

Jace made a curious hum as he moved his hand from Harrison’s quickly hardening dick and tilted his head. “That good already? I’ve barely touched you.” Harrison protested with a hum that was halfway between a scream and another whimper, but Jace just laughed. “Well, you seem like you’re enjoying yourself. I bet you won’t even take long.”

“Fuck you,” Harrison meant to say as Jace transitioned to a different stroking motion at his crotch. Harrison’s vision blurred for a moment as he squirmed under his touch, feeling Jace’s finger faintly move up and down the outline of his shaft that had started to let itself be known within the confines of the pants Jace had lent him. He couldn’t help but glance down at the act, then up at the ceiling, all of a sudden feeling too weak to squirm anymore.

His body felt too hot, and he could already tell he was blushing like crazy, making himself inwardly groan at his body’s childishness. It wasn’t as if he hadn’t gotten a handjob before. Not by a man, a younger man at that, but it had happened before. Had he always been like this when he was touched? Blushing and twitchy like a chaste maiden? Panting and squirming like a teen during his first sexual experience? In a way he felt ashamed, but the feeling wasn’t lasting very long.

The more Jace touched him, the more he could tell the act was taking over his mind. Try as he might to focus on something unimportant to distract himself from the situation, his mind kept wandering back to the feeling of Jace’s hand giving him somewhat of a phantom handjob through his pants. How good it felt. How much he wished Jace would give him more and stop teasing him. He managed to catch these thoughts and throw them out of his mind, but they’d always come back. Stronger and more incessant than before.

Harrison was starting to get light headed with the way he was panting heavily, and his clothes were starting to stick to his body in areas where he was particularly sweaty. He felt like he was doing pushups, but instead of his limbs going numb with pain, they went numb with pleasure. It took him far too long to realize he was letting out embarrassing noises with each pant, and even when he did realize, he was finding it increasingly hard to stop himself.

He curled his toes and tried once again to close his legs, managing to angle his hips in a way that allowed him to at least touch his knees together. Jace laughed and slowed down his movements. Harrison simultaneously sighed in relief and whimpered in disappointment on the inside. He felt his leg twitch.

“Are you enjoying yourself?” Harrison took a second before shaking his head in response. “You say that,” Jace mused, climbing between Harrison’s legs.

“And yet I can’t help but notice the way your hips move in response to my hands.” Had he been? Harrison’s mind was so jumbled, he almost wouldn’t be surprised. Jace curled his fingers on the insides of his knees and pried his legs apart, prompting Harrison to make that weird squeak noise he’d made earlier. “Almost like you want more or something. Do you want more, Harrison?” Harrison shook his head.

Harrison heard Jace’s fleeting laughter over his own whimper as the younger sat back and reached behind him to the foot of the bed to pick something up. He positioned himself back down between Harrison’s legs with something shiny concealed within his other hand. But suddenly he was too distracted with Jace’s returning fingers to notice him move said hand down to join the other hand at his crotch.

Harrison only faintly heard the soft ‘click’ and the sound of buzzing for a split second before he could feel it pressed against his dick, and suddenly his whole body was tense again while he tilted his head back and let out a moan that prolonged itself longer than he meant it to. Jace just laughed, and all of a sudden he was back to squirming.

Harrison knew what Jace was using on him, he wasn’t completely foreign to the concept of vibrators and more or less how they felt against sensitive parts. But that didn’t mean he’d used one before. To say that it felt good was, in his fractured mind, an understatement. It was all Harrison could think of, really.

“Holy fuck, oh fuck, so good. So fucking good. Fuck. That feels so-  _ fuck _ !  _ That feels so good _ !” Harrison meant to say. He thinks. Something like that anyways. It was more a jumble of the words “fuck” and “good” mixed in between several filler words that may or may not be gibberish, repeated several times in between moans and groans that happened to make it out into the real world. He thinks.

The vibrations traveled up his spine like it was a hollow pipe, and he could feel the pleasure radiating across his body in waves, pooling in his stomach and at the base of his spine. First too hot, then too cold, then back and forth all over again and even a few times too hot and cold at the same time. He was whimpering, he knew he was whimpering. It felt like his body was oozing pleasure. It felt like he was melting.

Throughout the constant attack of pleasure against his mind and body, Harrison renewed his earlier struggling. It was more out of instinct than anything. He wanted to move, to curl in on himself, to cover himself. But he  _ couldn’t _ . It left him feeling exposed and confused, but behind the confusion he knew he could feel himself excited about the idea of it

This time he could notice his hips rutting up against the vibrator. He almost wanted to thank Jace for keeping it held between his palm and Harrison’s shaft, but he  _ really _ wanted to thank him when he started rubbing it up and down Harrison’s length with increasing and decreasing amounts of pressure. He increased the speed at which his hips were moving and Jace hummed once more.

“I thought you said you weren’t feeling good?” Harrison didn’t respond, too currently preoccupied with the situation in his pants that was suddenly demanding release to even notice Jace was talking. “You certainly seem like you’re enjoying it now.” He pulled away his hand, and the heavenly vibrator, and Harrison let out a drawn out whine that he was too distracted to notice made him sound like a child again.

“What, do you want more?” He chuckled. Harrison slowly came down from his altered state and glared at him, feeling the angry prick of tears behind his eyes. By that point he could almost feel his legs shaking. He was close, but not close enough to beg for it, he wasn’t that desperate. And hopefully he wouldn’t  _ have _ to get that desperate.

Jace lowered the vibrator. “It’s okay if you want more, you only have to nod.” Harrison continued to glare. Jace just raised an eyebrow. “I’m not giving you more unless you nod.” Only more glaring ensued.

“Suit yourself. I can wait. We have all day. It’s only 3.” It was only 3?! 3:10 or 3:54?

Surely it couldn’t have only been three hours since noon. It seemed like an eternity had passed from the time Harrison woke up, took a walk, had lunch, and took a bath, to now when he was forced into some weird version of bdsm play. Was time always that slow? It certainly felt that slow when he was at work, but now it was his day off. Usually those flew by in a flash, but here he was at 3 in the afternoon feeling like he was ready to hit the sack for the night.

He groaned and shifted in his bindings while Jace got back up and walked to his closet. No doubt to rummage in his box of wonders again. He had the fleeting wish that Jace would bring the vibrator back, but that was quickly replaced with the wish that he could be untied and take a cold shower. He did  _ not _ want to be doing this. Not now. Not in this house with this man. It was demeaning, really. But the more he told himself that, the more he realized it was useless. What was the point of being so tense and unwilling if it was just going to happen anyways?

Maybe if he just… climaxed quickly, then Jace would let him go and he could go back to avoiding him at work. Jace wouldn’t make him climax multiple times, would be? That was evil. And Jace wasn’t evil.

Harrison stared at the ceiling while he heard Jace walking back to the bed. He was chuckling, something dark and low that made Harrison’s chest clench up in a mixture of fear and anticipation. Okay scratch that, Jace was definitely evil.

Jace took his place between Harrison’s legs again and Harrison’s eyebrows furrowed. The heat in his stomach and brain had started to wear off, and he could think clearly again. Clearly enough to worry about what else Jace had planned for him. When Jace reached out towards him, he flinched away from his touch with a grimace. Jace frowned and gently massaged Harrison’s fingers.

“Maybe I really did make it too tight on you. They’re turning purple.” Now that he mentioned it, Harrison realized he couldn’t really feel too much of his fingers at all. Must have been too preoccupied with wanting to come so badly earlier. He cringed at his own thoughts.

Jace reached down and untied Harrison’s ankles, at which Harrison took the time to flail his newly freed legs to try to kick him. Jace flinched away from his writhing limbs, taking one of Harrison’s calves in each hand and holding his legs still. Harrison tried a few more times to move his legs but quickly found it was, once again, useless. So much for that idea, whatever it was.

“Still so lively,” Jace tsked. Harrison rolled his eyes while Jace moved his body closer to Harrison’s. In that position, Harrison couldn’t reach Jace with his knees, let alone his feet. He could feel Jace’s pelvis pressing against his butt, and he felt shame wash over him when he started to blush at the feeling. He was still having trouble accepting the position he was in, he found.

“Let’s try this again,” Jace cooed, “this one should be stronger.” Surely enough, the vibrator he then pressed against Harrison’s painfully-clothed crotch had a stronger vibration than the first. It felt like the entire area below his waist was shaking with the force of it.

Without really thinking about it, he crossed his legs behind Jace’s waist with a high keening sound and tried to move his hips again. It was only a matter of time until his thoughts dissolved into more begging and moaning and his thrusts grew more frantic in an attempt to let the friction lull him over into an orgasm. He just had to come, just had to climax. Then it’d be over. So close, so close to coming. Just a bit faster. Just a bit-

He distantly heard the sound of another click before the vibrations were even stronger than they were before. Harrison almost didn’t notice it, it barely felt like actual vibrations. It felt like Jace was pouring liquid pleasure down the shaft of Harrison’s dick, in a way that was like heaven but unsatisfactory at the same time. He wanted more, but every time he tried to angle his hips upwards, Jace was pulling the vibrator away. There was no way he could come like this. No way he could reach his peak. He almost sobbed.

“Not until you tell me you want more.” Harrison shook his head. “Then you can’t come yet.” Harrison sobbed. Jace was such an asshole.

“Harrison, just tell me.” Harrison shook, closing his eyes as a tear rolled down his face and into his hair. “Harrison.” He curled in on himself. He was so close. So far. “Do you want more?” His head started to get fuzzy, he wasn’t even sure he was thinking words anymore. Everything felt too sensitive, too amazing. He couldn’t. He  _ couldn’t _ . “Do you want to come?”

Harrison nodded.

“So you want more?”

He nodded again.

Jace smiled and pulled the vibrator away from his crotch. He keened, his hips jerking upwards in search of stimulation without his approval. Before he could start begging properly, though, Jace was switching positions, leaning over him and planting his arms on either side of Harrison’s head. Harrison barely had time to wonder what he was doing before he felt the unmistakable feeling of Jace’s hips rutting against his own.

It wasn’t as good as the vibrator, Harrison could admit that, but that didn’t stop him from moving against him.

Harrison’s body was moving on its own against Jace’s, frantic and needy. Grinding against him with a hungry opassion for release. Harrison’s mind, however, was locked in a state of blank nothingness. All he could do was stare, stare into Jace’s eyes as waves of pleasure crashed over him and shook him to his core. Jace was staring into his soul, Jace was pulling him apart, Jace was consuming him, Jace was Jace was JacewasJace _ was _ -

All of a sudden Harrison couldn’t  _ see _ anything. Could only feel his body tensing and quivering with the force of his orgasm. His nerves felt like they were exploding, his mind felt like it was unraveling. From somewhere else, he could still feel Jace moving against him. It kept him suspended in mid air until his orgasm subsided and his employee stilled above him. He unhooked his legs from behind Jace’s back and his body collapsed against the bed.

Then, all he felt was exhausted. Exhausted and disgusted. And all he could think was gibberish.

\--

Harrison laid in Jace’s bed for what he hoped was an eternity. He didn’t want to get up, didn’t want to open his eyes. Even though he knew he wasn’t asleep, he wished he was. He wished he were  _ dead _ . Well.. Not really. He wished Jace were dead. Had been dead before he decided to be a creep to Harrison. But he wasn’t dead, he was just sitting on the other side of the bed, teasingly close to Harrison but far enough that if Harrison thought about it hard enough, he could picture that Jace was actually replaced with the presence of a demon, which was a much more pleasant idea.

He tried to ignore Jace’s attempts to get him to respond to him, no matter how many there were. The shaking, the whining, the hair patting, the sitting beside him, constantly calling his name, even fits of constant poking all over Harrison’s body, which Jace referred to as “boop” but Harrison referred to as “annoying” in his mind. He hated it. Hated it. Hated it. Make it stop stop stop stop stop  _ Ihateit _ .

Eventually Jace’s words started to converge together into one meaningless, pulsing mass of discomfort at the back of Harrison’s head. He didn’t move a muscle, and instead tried to will his brain to dissolve and leak out of his orifices that may or may not be above the waist. He didn’t care. Well, he cared, but god he sure wished he didn’t.

He could still feel the wet stain coating the front of his-  _ Jace’s- _ underwear, now cold because of the temperature of the room around him, rubbing against the violated areas of his crotch in almost the same way  _ he _ had. It made him want to be sick, like the world was warping beneath his limp body and when he opened his eyes, the room would be spinning and he would die from alcohol poisoning.

“-nt to take a shower? Please. Harrison?”

A shower sounded nice. Not with this guy around, though. Harrison could only imagine what shit he’d try to pull once he was  _ naked _ .

“-ngry maybe?”

No no, food is the last thing Harrison wanted. Probably was dosed with drugs, anyhow. Harrison wouldn’t put it past Woodrow, honestly.

“-to go home?”

“Yes.” Harrison sat up, opening his eyes and looking down at the accursed bed. “Take me home.”

“Okay..! Are you sure?”

“Take me home,” Harrison responded, voice monotone and unfeeling. Which wasn’t at all what he was feeling. He actually wanted to scream, but he had a feeling if he screamed he’d end up crying afterwards, and we know how much he hates crying.

Jace was silent for a while, watching him most likely, before Harrison could feel him moving off of the bed and walking towards Harrison’s side of it.

“Do you at least want to shower before we go?” He leaned over the bed, towards Harrison, who grimaced before shaking his head.” Do you want another change of clothes..?” Harrison shook his head again. “Are you sure?” This time a nod. When would this guy let it go?

There was another beat of silence before Jace got up and walked to the door. He said something else, but Harrison couldn’t hear, just followed him out of his room and to what Harrison assumed was his front door. So that’s where it was..

Jace put an arm out to stop Harrison from walking out of the house. “Harrison, your shoes. And your suit.”

Harrison shrugged. “‘Sfine…” More tense silence before Jace walked back inside and brought out what Harrison assumed was his clothes. The were two distinct plops on the ground in front of him, and Harrison slid his feet into his work shoes from yesterday. He was painfully aware of his lack of socks as he stood there in the uncomfortable black dress shoes, but that didn’t really matter to him. He just walked out like that, toes uncomfortably pressing against the harsh insides of the shoes as he trudged out to Jace’s car.

As Harrison walked over to the passenger’s side door and took his seat, an overwhelming sense of deja vu washed over him while he was clicking his seatbelt into place. The rumbling over the car starting up startled him out of his dreamlike state and he looked over at Jace, who had a peculiar expression on his face that housed a feeling that Harrison wasn’t sure existed in the human world.

The car started moving forward, and that same feeling of deja vu overcame him.  _ Different _ .

“I think I’m starting to remember the first night I was in your car.” His gaze shifted from Jace’s strange face to the scenery outside as they left the neighborhood. It was a nice place, big houses, nice lawns. Probably full of broken households and white collar crimed bastards. The perfect place for someone like Jace. Pretty on the outside but on the inside…

Jace didn’t respond but he continued talking, curious, “Did I say anything weird when you were driving me here?”

Jace took an eternity to respond, and when he did, it was after he had leaned back in his chair and let his grip relax on the steering wheel. “No, you didn’t say anything, actually.” He sounded as cheerful as he always was. It was almost unsettling, but Harrison was starting to realize more and more that he didn’t really care. Better that Jace had the same personality at all times than actually be someone with layers. “But you did something kinda weird.”

He turned his body in the seat towards Jace and leaned his cheek against the car seat. Warm.

“What did I do?”

Jace’s eyes darted to his for a split second and Harrison could feel electricity shoot through his veins until his gaze returned to the road in front of them. A smile tugged at his lips but refused to make its way across his face. Harrison thought it was weird for a second, but then the thought left him. He was having a bit of trouble trying to hold onto his thoughts lately, he thought. But then the thought left him.

When Jace spoke again, it almost startled Harrison. “You licked your lips at me.”

He mulled over the words in his mind, tumbling them around in his head like the numbers in a lottery ball machine while he tried to make sense of them. He? Did that? That didn’t really seem like a Harrison thing to do. Was he  _ that _ sleepy? Maybe he did need to be getting more sleep.

“Was there a reason I did it?”

Jace pursed his lips, but not into a thin line, contrary to popular belief, then shook his head slowly. “Not as far as I’m aware.”

Weird…

“Um,” Jace interjected, biting his lip while strategically locking his eyes onto the road in front of them, “Are you going to fire me?”

Harrison laughed. He’d meant for it to be sarcastic but it was quickly starting to turn genuine, and then it started to turn hysterical. It dragged on like a bad cold until they reached the next stoplight and Jace turned to face him fully with the same strange expression on his face. Harrison gulped in a breath then, and then smiled.

“Yes.”

“Please don’t fire me,” Jace pleaded. Harrison laughed again.

“You just sexually harassed me.”

“I know! I don’t know what came over me! I’m not usually like that, I swear.”

“Bet you’re not usually employed either, huh?”

“Harrison please!”

This time Harrison’s laugh was short and lacking in its humor. “I don’t seem to recall you letting me go when I was pleading with you earlier. Hm, ironic.”

Jace’s eyebrows furrowed, “Your mouth was duct taped-”

“It’s a fucking joke, Woodrow.”

“It wasn’t very funny-”

“You’re not very employed either!” Yes he was making that joke a second time, but he was starting to really enjoy thinking of it.

Jace took a deep breath and the car started moving forward again. Bit by bit, Harrison was starting to notice he could see every bit of humor and joy drain from Jace’s face as the realization that he’d actually have to pay for his actions nestled inside his brain like a parasite. It was quite pleasing to watch. He seemed to be having a mental conversation with himself. Shaking his head, sighing, even mumbling to himself like a crazy person. Well, he was a crazy person, but he hadn’t had the guts to show it before until now. The warm feeling of satisfaction coiled in Harrison’s gut as he smiled at his mentally unstable employee. A more comforting thing to feel coiling in your gut, he decided.

But at the same time, the more he thought about actually telling his bosses, the more it displeased him. What was he actually going to tell them? That he was too weak to handle fighting off a younger employee who was trying to take advantage of him? What if they didn’t believe him? Or worse, what if they laughed at him? Sure, he’d still technically be winning by sending Jace packing, the guy who’s been a thorn in his side since the day he showed up at their sad excuse for a company, but he could also be opening up a floodgate of inappropriate jokes and mocking stares by telling people that vulnerability. But which outcome would be better? Maintaining his position of status in the office, or getting rid of Jace? And then what if he somehow managed to accomplish neither tasks and failed entirely just because it was so hard to believe? Then he’d  _ really _ be losing.

He turned to face forward in his seat while the car ride lasted what felt like another hour of Harrison’s precious time, and he started gazing out the window as they drove, realizing he didn’t know any of the places they were driving by. Where was Jace taking him?

Harrison’s fists clenched as he kept watching, hoping soon he’d be able to recognize some of the buildings. Maybe Jace’s house was just unnaturally far from his. But that feeling of relief never came, instead replaced with building dread as his mind began to wonder why Jace was taking him somewhere other than his house, and where Jace was taking him in the first place. 

To another house where he’d tie Harrison up and keep him there forever? To a secluded forest where he’d bury Harrison alive? It wasn’t like Harrison could fight back, he’d already proved how useless and small he was against Jace’s strength. He could easily be thrown into a 6 foot deep pit and then covered with dirt until he stopped breathing. He could easily be thrown into an abandoned basement and kept there forever. Not like anyone would come looking for him, no one except his own parents were close to him, and he  _ hated _ his parents. And his parents hated him! He’d be trapped, probably even used again. Would Jace want to keep his job so much that he’d make Harrison into a sex slave to keep him silent? Of course he would, he’s  _ Jace _ .

“Harrison?” Harrison jumped at Jace’s sudden voice but didn’t turn to face him. How could he face the man that was going to either kill him or kidnap him all because he’d made the empty threat to fire him? The buildings still weren’t familiar to him at all.

“Harrison? You’re shaking..”

“W-where..” he gulped, trying to get his words in order before trying again, “where are you taking me?”

“Oh..” Oh? Why oh?? Where was oh?! Oh as in, “Oh you found out my master plan, I guess I have to kill you sooner than later” or oh as in “Oh nothing, you’ll see when we get there, devilish winky face emoji”?

“Well, you still haven’t told me your address, so I was just going to drive until you calmed down and then stop at a gas station to redirect us, but you just seemed to be getting worse so the drive just kept dragging on.”

…

Well at least it wasn’t a secluded forest.

\--

When Jace dropped Harrison off, they hadn’t said anything to each other. No goodbye’s, not even a friendly “see you in hell” on Harrison’s part, because he  _ wasn’t _ going to get Jace fired because he couldn’t afford to and he was a coward and he felt increasingly terrible about himself as the day dragged on in the way it had. He just felt drained in every way possible, and he  _ still _ hadn’t gotten himself a clean pair of pants.

Needless to say, once he got home he took a scalding hot shower, tossed Jace’s clothes in the trash, and flopped into bed with a loose shirt and his  _ own _ pair of boxers on. He’d tried to sleep at one point but it was too early, so he just stared up at the ceiling and distantly wondered if he should order something for himself to eat for dinner or just starve forever until he eventually perished. And if he was being honest with himself, the perish idea was starting to seem very very tempting.

Even as the sky started to get darker, Harrison couldn’t find himself sleepier at any point during the evening. He was too alive, too jittery and too aware of the weight of his blanket draped over his limp body. It started to get warm. Probably from his own body heat, but at one point it started to feel too warm. It almost felt suffocating. Almost felt familiar..

Try as he might, he couldn’t stop thinking back to what he’d just let happen to himself. Couldn’t stop imagining the feeling of Jace’s warm hands against parts that were all too sensitive for him to even think of putting his warm hands against. Couldn’t stop hearing Jace’s words echoing in his mind, making his body heat up even more, which made the sheets heat up even more by proxy.

Too hot, it was too hot in his room. He pulled his shirt up past his chest and panted. He should probably turn on the ac. Should probably have taken a cooler shower… Probably should stop thinking about being touched all over. Probably should stop imagining how amazing it had felt. Probably shouldn’t be hearing Jace’s ever cheerful voice encouraging him… encouraging him to..

He snaked his hand down the length of his too-hot body. He was twitchy now like he was then, even as he wrapped his hand around his quickly hardening length. Somehow, it managed to feel ten times hotter than the rest of his body. He briefly wondered why that was, and considered looking up the reason why, before he was suddenly distracted by the slow movements of his hand dragging its way up and down his sensitive shaft.

Already he could feel heat pooling in his stomach, but something about it wasn’t enough. It wasn’t like..

Wasn’t how  _ he _ did it.

Maybe Harrison should invest in a vibrator like Jace’s. Maybe that would be more satisfying. More satisfying than his hand that felt clumsy and stiff against his length. Maybe it’d remind him more of Jace. Jace’s hand. Jace’s fingers. Jace’s  _ eyes _ .

He could picture them above him. Staring down at him. Feeling him without touching him. He hated it. He hated it so much and yet he needed it. Needed it. Needed  _ him _ .

Harrison turned his head and tried to bury his face in his pillow. He felt ashamed. And yet he couldn’t stop himself. His hand just moved faster. Before long he was panting, moaning into the fabric beneath him. His other hand grasped at his sheets as he brought himself closer. This time he didn’t have to beg for it, he could just let himself go.

He let out a half chuckle. It was empty, he was too distracted to laugh properly. But he found it funny. He’d only really just met the guy and already he couldn’t stop thinking about him. Jace would have a field day if he knew Harrison masturbated to the thought of him. Not like he could stop himself, though. It felt too good.

Harrison bit his lip. Damn that idiot. He was smart, handsome, already friends with half the people in their office. He’d touched Harrison without his consent and now Harrison was going to come thinking about him. What it must be like to be Jace.

Fuck him.  _ Fuck him _ . Fuck Jace. Fuck Jace. Fuck Jace fuck Jace fuck, Jace. Fuck fuck. Fuck, Jace. Jace. Jace. Jace Jace JaceJaceJace _ JaceJaceJaceJace- _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks so much for reading and as always comments are highly appreciated!
> 
> I know the updates are fairly slow but this story WILL be finished one day. If you stick around, I promise you won't regret it. The plot's a lot more convoluted than just hot employee sex lmaoooo
> 
> But it's also mainly hot employee sex. But with a bdsm kink!
> 
> Next chapter should be out fairly quick since there won't be smut in it. Yay!


	6. Harrison hates people, actually

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Harrison has a hard week at the office, and his beloved employees only make it WORSE.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hooray another chapter! Are you proud of me? It's not beta read but who cares? You're here for good story, not for good grammar.
> 
> Not a lot of Jaceness in this chapter, I know how much we all love him, but bear with me. Harrison's going to start seeing him a LOT more after this chapter, hehehe.
> 
> Enjoy!

To say Harrison’s wrists were sore would be an understatement. Not only were they a healthy shade of purple throughout the week, they also stung like hell every time he had to do something with his hands. Imagine having a sharp pain spike up your arm every time you tweak your wrist even slightly, and then imagine having to work a desk job that involved either a hell of a lot of typing or a hell of a lot of shaking hands with rich bastards who didn’t know the meaning of the word “gently.” And then also imagine being sleep deprived on top of that. Now imagine you’re the most beautiful person in the world.

That last part wasn’t part of Harrison’s daily routine but it’s nice to get you readers to have some self positivity every once in a while. You’re beautiful, never forget that.

Anyways back to the story, Harrison was in pain. Physically and mentally. He couldn’t go a day without submerging his wrists in cold water for at least two minutes, and he couldn’t go an hour without seeing Jace’s stupid smiling face around the office and feeling like he needed to puke. At one point he did puke but that was for a different reason. Sushi and mac and cheese don’t go well, no matter what your coworkers tell you.

Needless to say, Harrison was not a happy camper for the week. He was quite the grumpy camper, actually. He had the feeling it showed, too. His employees were acting like Harrison would fire them at any moment if they managed to disturb him at an unwanted time, which wasn’t exactly too far from the truth. He’d just never admit it. He liked his employees - most of them - and wanted them to feel somewhat comfortable around him. Even if they did have terrible taste in food combinations.

It didn’t mean he wasn’t exhausted, though. Not to mention the ac unit in the office was currently broken and Harrison was promptly  _ dying _ from the sheer amount of  _ heat _ that managed to converge in an office space full of 20-50 year olds in the middle of April. It wasn’t like Harrison could roll up his sleeves, either. He’d rather  _ die _ than let his coworkers see the rope bruises and make assumptions as to where he got them from. Although he was almost convinced that whatever they managed to imagine was at least ten times better than what actually happened.

Whenever someone asked him questions as to why he didn’t take off his jacket and roll up his sleeves, he usually just made the comment that he didn’t want to look unprofessional in his own office. However, when they  _ kept _ asking him, that’s when he decided maybe professionalism wasn’t his main problem.

“Because if I take off my tie, the demons that are kept at bay by the seal will release from my mortal form and you humans will perish in an unearthly fire.”

“Damn, I knew you weren’t human. No human could work as much as you and stay alive,” One of his coworkers, a more direct employee than Jace had been, leaned over Harrison’s chair and chuckled. “If I release the demons and die, does that mean I don’t have to work anymore?”

“No, it means you’ll get transported to an office space in hell where all the supervisors are me, except every day is also a Tuesday.”

His employee, Alyson, hummed. “Don’t threaten me with a good time, Harry.”

“God, don’t fucking call me that.” Harrison swiveled around in his chair, “Is there any other reason you felt the need to invade my office other than comment on my state of overdress?”

Alyson had a pleased look on her face, but Harrison could tell there was a hint of something else behind it. It was a look that displayed a mixture of smugness and distress, with possibly a bit of empathy hidden behind her eyes. It put Harrison on edge a little bit. What she had to say probably wouldn’t be good.

Sure enough, once Alyson said, “Boss sent back the reports you filed to him on Monday,” Harrison was groaning inwardly and outwardly, as well as letting his hands cover up his face to hide the shame and annoyance that was beginning to leak from it.

“But whyyy,” he whined. Alyson held out the small stack of papers to him.

“Said there was no way the numbers you recorded were correct. There should be an email with a bit more detail but he had run off to a meeting before he could get this to you. Aren’t you glad it’s me and not him?”

“I’d rather it be Loki, the nordic god of tricks, himself than have either him  _ or you _ give me this shit.” He snatched the papers from her hand and she flinched away. It took him a second too long to realize he was being needlessly hostile towards her and took a deep breath before continuing, “Did he even fucking.. Look at it? I have no idea how he could just look at numbers and say ‘Hmm, nope, that’s wrong.’ Unless he did the calculations himself, in which case,  _ why not just fucking do it yourself _ ??”

Alyson shook her head, heading back to the door as she did, “I don’t know. It’s a wonder what goes on in that guy’s head. Pretty sure a majority of it is something to do with sex, considering he  _ is _ the CEO of an entire company that makes and distributes sex toys.”

“Please don’t say sex so many times within the confines of my innocent, Christian office.”

“Sex.”

Harrison glared.

“Well anyways, I’ll leave you to it, sir.” Alyson saluted him and was about to back out of his office before he suddenly almost jumped out of his chair.

“Wait!” he called after her, just a little bit louder and needier than he’d meant for it to sound. Alyson did, in fact, wait, walked back into his office, even, and blinked slowly while Harrison tried to gather his words into something that wouldn’t cause him to make a complete fool out of himself, which he was never one to accomplish successfully.

“Where..” He gulped. This was so inappropriate, but he’d been wondering about it the past week yet had no idea how or who to go about asking. He trusted Alyson though, at least somewhat. She worked closely with him several times in the past, and he’d even go so far as to say that if he ever needed to take a day off, he’d trust her to pick up his slack if there ever was a time of need. It only made sense to ask someone like her. They were almost… friends. Right?

“Whereeeee..?” Alyson raised an eyebrow. “Where is the bathroom? Where are my boobs? Where’s the blacksmith?”

“I- What? No. What do half of those questions even mean?”

“Spit it out, Harry. Some of us have work to do, strangely enough,” she chuckled. By now she was leaning against the door with her arms crossed, obviously making herself comfortable for the question that was for sure going to require her to stay in Harrison’s office a bit longer, maybe even require her to go back inside and sit down in Harrison’s discussion chair. Harrison hated, yet also loved, that she could predict his questions like that.

“This is.. Awkward,” Harrison fought the urge to rub the back of his head like a shy teenager.

“No duh, you look like my grandpa after he has five too many beers.”

Harrison reached up to feel his own burning cheeks. “Right..”

“Harryyy, I have work to doooo,” she teased.

“Don’t..  _ fucking _ call me that.”

“If you don’t ask the question within fifteen seconds I’m going to take the longest shit break of my entire career, and I know how much you hate it when someone takes a long shit in the bathrooms.”

It was true, Harrison did hate that.

“Well.. it’s not fair to say I hate someone for having to do their business, it’s more so that I hate the smell and, from time to time, the sounds that come from-”

“Harrison.”

“Where do you buy our toys?” he blurted out. Immediately he regretted saying it as Alyson’s face changed from startled, to confused, to immensely pleased within the seconds that followed. As predicted, she waltzed over to the chair in front of Harrison’s desk and threw a leg over it, somehow gracefully falling into the seat with a leg draped over the arm of it as if she somehow owned the god damn world. Once again, Harrison gulped.

“Oh,  _ Harrison _ , I’m flattered you thought to ask  _ me _ for advice,” she purred, a smile stretching across her face like the fucking Cheshire Cat.

“I didn’t ask you for advice..!”

“Oh but obviously you knew that I wouldn’t just give you a straight answer without prying deeper and somehow pulling out a deep repressed fear of yours that you’ve failed to address for the past 20 years.” How specific.

“We have work to do.”

“Work can wait, some things are more important.” She swung her other leg over the arm and slunk down into the seat, then positioned her elbows on the other leg and intertwined her fingers. Finally, she rested her chin within the self-made hammock between her arms, looking properly like a girl who wasn’t in her boss’s office, and was instead inspecting her favorite human toy and how cute said toy looked in a see-through skirt. She tended to have this look a lot, surprisingly enough.

“Now tell me, Harrison,” she almost sighed, “what brings about this sudden curiosity towards our company’s product? I think I remember you saying at some point that you’d probably never use our toys unless your future wife requested you to. Have you, perhaps, found that wife?”

He scoffed. “Can’t a guy just be curious about his own product?”

“Mayhaps,” another purr, “but I know  _ this guy _ is not that kind of  _ curious _ .”

Harrison felt the need to gaze out of his window for a way out of the conversation, which only seemed to lead him towards nothing as his mind blanked out for a second upon catching sight of a bright red cardinal sitting atop a powerline not too far from the building. But when he looked back at Alyson, he was right back where he began.

“So..” he thought for a moment, “so you’re not going to tell me where you can buy our toys?”

“Well, if I don’t know you’ll be using them for safe purposes, how can I, a precious employee who absolutely  _ adores _ her boss, in good faith give you the information you crave?” she almost cooed.

Harrison sighed and put his chin on his palm, resting his elbow on his desk. “I don’t want to talk about it.”

“You don’t have to go into detail,” she shrugged, “I just want to know the situation is all.” She batted her eyelashes like she wasn’t trying to pry into her boss’s, very personal, mind you, personal life.

Harrison sighed again. How could he even begin to tell her? He was having trouble accepting it himself. At this point he was regretting even asking but there was no way she’d back down now even if he begged her to. She had that aspect about her, which it what made her such a fucking good employee. Harrison had no trouble believing she could have easily been  _ his _ boss in another life, but this wasn’t that life and now wasn’t that time. Now was the time to inwardly panic. A lot.

He guessed he must have been quiet for too long, because then she started asking questions.

“Did you meet someone special?”

No comment.

“Did you have a revelation one night? Find a really good porn that really resonated with you?”

No comment.

“Did someone introduce you to it?”

He made the mistake of meeting her eyes for a split second too long after she’d said it and she gasped.

“Someone introduced you? Who was it? Some girl at a bar? Some  _ guy _ at a bar?  _ Someone _ at a bar? Do you mind me asking, how do you swing?”

“Yes, I mind you asking.” He wasn’t even sure of that himself, how was he supposed to answer?

“My bad. But you haven’t denied me yet so I’m going to assume I’m somewhat right.” She shifted in her seat, bringing her feet down in front of her and resting her self-made chin hammock on her thighs instead. “So what, you had a sexual experience and now you’re thinking that you want to experience it again?”

Harrison bit his lip and glanced back outside, hoping to see the cardinal again for a moment of clarity. It was gone.

“Are you planning to have that person with you again when you buy the toy?”

_ God  _ no. “I-I might not even buy a toy. I might just.. look. I’m just curious.”

She hummed and leaned back, this time disassembling her hammock to lay her arms down on either arm of the chair. “What kind of toys will you be looking at?

Vibrators. “I don’t.. know. Just browsing, I guess,” He shrugged the question off. “So what I’m hearing is you’re not going to tell me where to get them?”

“Be patient, Harrisy! We’re almost to the bottom of this, I can feel it.”

“Did you just call me Heresy-”

“When did this ‘demonstration’ happen?”

Harrison fought the urge to roll his eyes and instead just closed them. “Why does that matter?”

“Please just answer the question. Last question! I swear.”

He groaned and ran a hand through his hair. “I don’t really remember..! I guess.. Last Thursday?”

Alyson hummed in understanding and stared through his soul. He started to feel uncomfortable in his chair, and it wasn’t just because the sweat sliding down his back was starting to glue his back to his shirt to his chair. The look on her face said it all, she’d figured something out. But what? Harrison was too afraid to ask.

“So.. are you going to tell me where to buy them?”

She chuckled, “We have a website. It’s on our business cards.” She reached across his desk, to  _ his _ card holder, and held a card out to him. He felt like screaming in frustration but instead just gave her a stiff smile and a quiet “thanks” as she pulled back to sit in her seat. “Well, my work here is done.”

“Really? That’s it?” She nodded and got up, walking back towards the door like she’d just shot Harrison in the face and now had a nail appointment to make. “What was the point of all those questions?”

“I told you, I was just curious.”

“I actually don’t recall you saying that at all, actually.”

She chuckled again and shrugged. “Well it’s like you said, we have to work to do. I’ll get out of your hair. Enjoy!” And with that she closed the door, the sound echoing around Harrison’s office as he stared after her receding blurry form in his door window. Enjoy what? Should he be worried?

‘Probably just didn’t know what to make of the answer and pretended like she knew what she was doing,’ he thought as he looked back down at this supposedly failed quarter report. It was part of manipulation: Looking like you know what you’re doing when in reality you’re just trying to make the other person admit something they wouldn’t otherwise. It was a damn good strategy. Which was why Harrison hated it so damn much.

He flicked the stack back and forth in his hands as he tried to think of where to start on redoing it. He was sure he’d gotten at least  _ some _ things right. Did he really have to do the whole thing over? Did his boss know how hard it was to do those fucking reports in the first place?? Last time it had taken Harrison a whole 4 days. And now he had to have it done by.. When? Probably tomorrow, if Harrison knew his boss correctly. And Harrison  _ knew _ his boss correctly.

He licked his lips and put the paper down, recovering the spreadsheet from his computer. Might as well start on a loose version of the report and just fill in the numbers where they were meant to go. It was a nice starting place, at least. With any luck, if he  _ did _ manage to mess up, it was near the end of the report, not much to redo. But with  _ his _ luck, he definitely messed up within the first five numbers and had to redo the whole thing. Hopefully his boss would understand.

\--

Within two hours, Harrison’s wrists felt like they were on fire and his fingers were cramped to the point that he found he couldn’t quite move them correctly. He tried stretching them out, even cracking every single joint to be found within his phalanges, but no matter what, the truth was he needed a break. Maybe Alyson was right, some things were more important than work. Like not getting carpal tunnel syndrome.

He pushed himself away from his desk and stood up, stretching. Several muscles in his back popped locked and dropped it, which made him a little bit concerned for his physical health, but it was to be expected of a 35 year old, he supposed. It was only a matter of time before the joint pain really settled in, probably.

Chuckling sadly to himself, he made his way out of the office and towards the bathroom. Even as a CAO, Harrison still found himself sharing a bathroom with his employees. Only his bosses got their own bathrooms. Probably with golden toilet seats and,  _ oh _ , two-ply toilet paper. Just the thought of it was enough to make his mouth water. Not in that way… But he didn’t have that luxury. He had to use the stalls like everyone else.

He entered the bathroom and immediately walked over to the sinks to run cold water over his wrists. He was honestly starting to get worried. Should it be hurting this much? Maybe Harrison wasn’t the only one who needed pointers on bdsm related topics.

He shuddered and shook the thought out of his head. He didn’t want to be thinking about Jace. Not here, not now, not ever, actually. Today had thankfully been a day where he hadn’t seen that flash of curly blond hair or deep blue eyes, anyways. Those eyes that had… stared at him while he….

He suppressed the urge to scream by splashing cold water on his face until he was sure he was seconds away from drowning. Taking huge gulps of air, he leaned against the sink and wiped his face with his sleeves. Fucking terrible, the thought of it was fucking terrible. He’d never wanted to crawl into a hole and die a quick and painful death so badly before. Just forget about it, just stop thinking about it. It won’t ever happen again so just why keep thinking about it? He sighed and ran another damp hand through his dry hair. Just stop thinking about it…

His thoughts were interrupted suddenly by the sound of a toilet nearby being flushed. He hadn’t even noticed there was another person in the bathroom. A sharp panic ran through him for a second as his mind conjured up the image of Jace walking out of the stall and meeting his frightened gaze, but instead another employee of his took his place. He almost sighed in relief.

“Um, you okay, Mr. Clements? Ya look tense,” his employee, Phil, commented while walking to the sink beside Harrison and coating his hands in soap.

Harrison shook his head. “Yeah, fine. Just, yeah, a bit on edge.”

“Told you you should be getting more sleep. This is just one of the many side effects of it. Paranoia and stuff like that.” He ran his hands under the water and turned to face Harrison fully. “When’s the last time you got a good night’s sleep?”

God, he sounded like-

Harrison flinched, then answered, “I don’t know.. Thursday?”

“Oh, the day you were at Jace’s house, right?”

He did a double take. “I- Um.. What? No. H-how.. How did you..?”

Phil snorted and raised an eyebrow. “Don’t tell me it’s actually true? We all just sort of assumed, but no one could really get clarification about it. Do I have permission to pass on this information to everyone else?”

“Um, no?? How could you guys even  _ assume _ that?” he asked, dumbfounded for a good few seconds.

Phil blew out a breath, seemingly racking his brain for a moment. “Well, Amy said that last Wednesday night, she saw Jace carrying you out to his car. Then the next day, coincidentally, one of the supervisors said that you’d call in sick, and Jace had also been out that day. Not to mention your car was still in the parking lot for, oh, the next two days? There were only a few conclusions we could make from that. So is it true? You were at his house?”

Harrison shook his head furiously, “No! No. He drove me  _ home _ that night. And I really was feeling too sick to come in from work. That’s all that happened. I was too sleepy to drive myself home. You know they say driving while sleepy is just as dangerous as driving drunk.”

Phil hummed, nodding slowly. “You know, it’s just kinda funny, considering I left out one piece of information about how we assumed.

“What information..?” Harrison groaned, slightly deflating.

“Well, when the supervisor was talking to  _ Jace _ over the phone about how  _ you _ were sick, of course.”

He groaned again, not even knowing what to say to that.

“You don’t have to lie about it, you know,” Phil snickered, walking to the door, “We were just curious.”

With that, Harrison was left alone in the bathroom, feeling even more terrible than he'd felt before he came to try and make himself feel better. He almost wondered whether he would have prefered to talk to Jace instead of Phil just then, but when someone else entered the bathroom and he almost jumped to the ceiling at the thought of it being Jace, he realized neither option was better.

\--

Harrison was halfway done checking the report by the time his lunch break rolled around. Not that he was particularly hungry, but he reveled in the silence of the break room before his employees started joining him inside. He had the same break time as some of his employees, so he’d come to feel pretty close to them during their breaks. Today, however, he wished he could just shoo them all out and take a quick nap for the next,  _ god _ , the next five hours, if possible. Just another disadvantage to being a boss who worked so closely with others.

He almost thought he could drown them out and maybe close his eyes for a bit, but that was before they started their regularly scheduled “sex/work talk” that they  _ so _ loved.

“My husband and I decided we might try wax play at some point. We just aren’t sure where we should be getting the candles from.”

“Ooh, we should start selling candles.”

“Scented candles..!”

“I don’t know if I’d want to be having sex with my husband while the smell of  _ vanilla _ wafted through the room.”

“Speak for yourself, the scent of vanilla has stress relieving effects, and can even work to  _ sedate _ you. It’s relaxing.”

Maybe Harrison should invest in scented vanilla candles.

“Sex isn’t supposed to be relaxing. It’s supposed to be rough and heated! You’re supposed to feel like an animal while doing it. You’re supposed to  _ need _ it..!”

“You’re scaring me.”

“ _ Sex _ should scare you!”

“Not your coworkers.”

The three ladies laughed at that, although Harrison couldn’t really see what was so funny about it. He laid his head on his arms and closed his eyes, then tried to imagine the scent of vanilla in the room. Just relax.

“But that’s what I love about ropes, right? Like.. the feeling of  _ wanting _ something but not being able to just  _ take _ it. It’s intoxicating. It has me acting up during sex, really. One time I ended up biting our girlfriend while she was trying to kiss my neck.”

“Like I said before, you’re scaring me.”

“Nah, let the girl speak for a second. She’s spitting facts.”

“Ugh, rope bunnies.” This had them laughing again. “I’m in a room full of them, apparently. Even, oh..! Look at  _ that _ . Do you see that?”

“Oh wow, that looks familiar.”

The third employee, a woman named Lana, giggled softly and tapped the table beside Harrison’s head, rousing him from his half sleep. “Hey, Harry. You doing alright bud?”

Harrison opened an eye. “Hm? Don’t call me that..” He raised his head slightly to notice the girls all looking at him with smiles on their faces. “What’s wrong?”

“We should be asking you the same thing,” the second girl, a younger employee named Sarah, tittered. “Your wrists feeling okay, bud?”

Harrison furrowed his eyebrows and sat up, pulling his sleeves back down to cover his wrists. He hadn’t even felt the cloth riding up his arms until then. He didn’t think it’d be  _ that _ noticeable.

The third girl, Trista, tilted her head and raised her eyebrows, almost inspecting him. “You hiding something from us, Clements? You’ve always told us how much you weren’t into bdsm. Has something changed.”

“I don’t,” he gulped, “feel comfortable talking about it, actually.” He didn’t even feel comfortable thinking about it.

“Oh, that’s fine,” Sarah waved it off. “You don’t have to if you don’t want to. But at least tell us it’s not because you were kidnapped or something.” She giggled and leaned forward. “Usually, you only get those kinds of bruises if you’ve been using ropes on them. Have you been using ropes?”

Harrison froze, then shook his head. “I’m not going to talk about it. Sorry, girls, I just really don’t feel comfortable discussing that kind of stuff with you guys.”

They all sighed and hummed, seemingly disappointed but not willing to push him further. Then Lana lit up again.

“Okay, so you don’t have to tell us, can I at least just say, whatever you were doing, you were doing it wrong.” The others laugh and nod in agreement. “Not that you have to talk about it, of course, but you might want to change your method.”

Trista spoke up, “Not that you have to talk about it, but you really should have loosened whatever knot you were using. Also, tying knots like you tie your shoelaces is  _ not _ the way to go. There’s a few different types of knots you can use for bdsm things and they work  _ way _ better. A lot easier to release than the regular knot, too.” Her red curls were bouncing in excitement, as if she had been waiting her whole life to give Harrison pointers on using knots on ropes.

“You really should have told whoever tied it to stop,” Sarah added. “You should have felt it bruising. Did you use your safeword? You know what that is, right?”

Harrison shook his head, feeling overwhelmed. “I don’t.. think I need one. Listen, I appreciate the… pointers. But I won’t be using them. To be honest..” he bit his lip, considering, “it was a one time thing. Thanks but no thanks.”

Sarah frowned. "Yeah, sorry. We were just curious.."

They all deflated once more, but went back to their talk, even as Harrison got up and left the room.

\--

So far it seemed like the day was stretching on forever. Harrison was irritated, tired, and feeling like he couldn’t even feel safe in his office space anymore. Luckily, he was almost done with the report. He had actually found an error in the report, but it had been near the end so he only had to redo a quarter of it. How ironic, almost.

He was even almost ready to go home. The sun was getting ready to set, and then he could go home and rest, unless his boss demanded he do more work for another two hours, in which case he might as well just fucking die. Wouldn’t be the first time.

That he had to stay another two hours, not that he died.

He was almost done typing up the last two lines of numbers when he heard the notification for an email entering his inbox. If someone was sending him an email now, it probably meant it was last minute and urgent, so he only waited to sigh before switching tabs and opening up the email.

_ Meet in conference room 2A by 4:45. Nothing urgent, just last minute. _

Well, Harrison’s assumption was close, at least. Not urgent, just last minute. Heh.

Harrison glanced at the clock in the corner of his desktop. 4:35. The notification must have taken a while to pop up. He looked back at his spreadsheet. He could probably get it done in the next ten minutes, right? Well.. maybe he could show up about five minutes late, right..?

He shook his head and got back to it. He just had to finish it, then he’d be done for the day and then he could go to the meeting, then go home. Just that simple, it was just that simple.

That’s what he kept telling himself, even as the time ticked up from 4:35 to all of a sudden 4:40, and then once he’d sent the report to the printer in his office, he was met with an unpleasant jolt as he realized it was now 4:51.

He practically yanked the report from the printer and set it on his desk, then dashed across the office space to room 2A. How wonderful that the room was practically  _ across the building _ .

He stopped outside the room and composed himself, catching his breath before opening the door just in time to see Jace’s  _ smiling _ face turn to greet him silently, just as his boss had finished saying, “like to welcome Jace Woodrow to the financing department,” to the rest of his employees.

They clapped, Jace smiled, and Harrison died inside.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! As always comments are A P P R E C I A T E D! I love hearing from you guys, like you have no idea how happy it makes me to physically see you guys enjoying my work. I do this for you and no one else! I love you as much as Harrison loves his employees.
> 
> Which isn't much y e t but soon you'll see just how much Harrison truly loves them. Well, loves one employee in particular...
> 
> See you when the next chapter is out!


	7. Roller coasters and weird jokes, what's the truth?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Harrison has another weird Thursday in which he acts as five people all at once and then cums.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Welcome to another chapter of Harrison's gradual mental breakdown! *insert scattered applause*
> 
> This one actually didn't take that long to write, the only problem I had was how to start it off, and once I did, everything else just fell into place naturally. Sometimes things in this story happen without me intending for them to happen, but they turn out to be just SO great, I can't get enough.
> 
> That being said, I'm very proud of this chapter and the fact that it makes no sense at all. I based a lot of Harrison's actions and thoughts off of what I myself sometimes think and feel, to try and keep the story at least somewhat realistic. I don't know if what I think and feel is normal, especially the part about two different versions of myself arguing inside my head, but who knows, maybe some of you guys can relate. I'd appreciate a comment if you find yourself relating to me and Harrison. We're very distressed in this world.
> 
> Anyhow, enjoy the chapter! It's very action packed with a very special surprise at the end hehe~

Wednesday night came and went too fast, in Harrison’s opinion. It seemed like as soon as he got home and went onto his phone, he was stuck in facebook until well past midnight, and then all of a sudden it was 6 AM. Not that he was complaining about 6 hours of sleep, he just wished tomorrow hadn’t had to come at all.

And then it was Thursday. A full week since  _ the incident _ at his employee’s house. Despite not being able to forget about it, he had at least somehow managed to move past it. It wouldn’t ever happen again, anyways. Mainly because he wouldn’t be caught  _ dead _ anywhere  _ near _ Woodrow’s house any time soon. Or maybe he would be caught dead… he still had the inkling feeling that Jace was somehow a serial killer as well.

It still haunted his nightmares, though. Not that he’d ever admit it to anyone. Are someone’s eyes usually considered haunting? Are wet dreams usually considered nightmares? Hard to believe Harrison still had them at this age, but the body wants what it wants, he guesses?

And so, Thursday arrived. And so too did Harrison. Arrived at work, in fact. Just in time to train his bright,  _ smiling _ , eager, new employee of the financial department that Harrison just so happened to work closely with.

_ Jace _ had managed to jump up several working positions in, what, three months? Right into a cozy little position as one of Harrison’s  _ direct _ employees.

Harrison was delighted! He loved training new employees and watching the life slowly drain from their faces as they gradually realized the majority of their day was now dedicated to staring at numbers for sex toys and working under a man who was so out of touch with reality that he thought  _ sex _ was weird. So yes, Harrison was excited to train an employee.

Harrison was NOT excited to train  _ Jace. _ To be Frank, who happened to be another employee of Harrison’s, Harrison would rather catch a numerous amount of horrific and painful diseases and be forced to take time off of work for the near future than to even look Jace in his stupid little face. Could you tell Harrison hated younger men? They sucked. And who could blame him?

Especially  _ this _ younger man in particular.

Jace was already waiting at the elevator for him once he’d made his way up to the floor of the financial department. He had his back to the wall, glancing out at Harrison’s employees with this strange look that Harrison could only categorize as some sort of pride. It made his blood boil, but instead of beating up a grown man in front of all of his loving employees and then promptly getting fired and a one month jail sentence, he decided to smile and straighten himself up. He was at work, after all. He had to act like it.

“Woodrow,” he called out, making Jace turn to face him, his face immediately softening with recognition. Harrison suppressed an eye twitch and instead held out his hand. “Welcome to the financial department. I’m Mr. Clements. I’ve heard a lot about you.” He decided if he was going to somehow survive with Jace working under him, he’d have to find a way to mentally separate at-home-touchy-feely-Jace with at-work-effective-employee-Jace. This was a different man, so he might as well reintroduce himself.

He’d almost figured that Jace would have acted confused or surprised, but he instead nodded and shook Harrison’s hand. Much to Harrison’s dismay, of course, because he hated touching Jace.

“Ah, all good things, I hope. I’ve heard about you, too. I’m actually looking forward to working closer with you in the future.”

That made Harrison’s eyebrows furrow a bit. What was that supposed to mean? Heard about Harrison? Did people talk about Harrison? He was the CAO, but it wasn’t like his job was all that important. All he did was record the activities of a few departments (the financial department included), do a bit of extra work if he had time and everyone else was caught up with their own work, sit in meetings, and eat lunch. It wasn’t like he had a reputation. Other than, maybe… “that one grumpy guy who doesn’t sleep.”

“Interesting,” he replied, dropping his hand out of Jace’s vice grip. Still a nice handshake, he hated to admit. “Well, we’ll just have to see in the future, won’t we?”

“Yes, I guess we will,” Jace beamed. Ugh.

“So,” Harrison sighed as he turned towards the office and began walking, “you’re fairly new around here, correct?”

It took Jace a while to realize that Harrison expected him to follow, but once he’d caught up, he was right back into his friendly composure. “Yes, sir. I started a few months ago, actually. I just happen to be quite qualified because of internships and part time jobs I’ve done in the past.”

Harrison raised an eyebrow at that, “Really, now? Quite the lucky one to have gotten part time jobs at such a young age.”

“Ah, well,” Jace looked away, “that’s because I have a close uncle who works high up in these kinds of corporate jobs. I had a job at his company for a while before I came here. So quite a bit of experience, I’d say. But yeah, also just really lucky.”

“I see,” Harrison trailed off, pursing his lips. It was like Jace was just blessed by the gods, obviously. For being so beautiful, he guessed. Only beautiful people like him had a place in the world.

“Well anyways,” he sighed and stopped in front of a row of computers, “this is where you’ll be working until further notice. That computer on the end,” he pointed, “is all set up for you. These are your coworkers. Please be professional when talking to one another while at your desks, you’re all very close to each other, and sometimes others don’t want to have to listen to whatever rubbish you’ve decided is okay to converse about at work.”

“Dang, Harrison, you don’t have to be so mean,” one of his employees piped up, leaning back in her chair as her eyes landed on Jace with a smile. “This the new guy? Jace, right? I’m Tasha. I’ll be here to help you with whatever questions you have.”

Jace nodded in reponse, “Thanks, I’ll keep that in mind. I’m a bit new with this operating system, I think, so I might be asking a lot about how the computer works, mainly,” he chuckled.

She shook her head, “Don’t worry about it, bro. I barely know how to use them either. Sometimes there will be random popups and I’ll just click ‘confirm’ and pretend it didn’t happen.”

“Should you be saying all of this while your boss is listening?” Harrison crossed his arms, but he couldn’t help but be amused. Tasha was always trying to make people feel comfortable and stooping to their level. It was a nice tactic. Better than anything Alyson would have used. No doubt, Alyson would have called Jace an uneducated loser and laughed in his face, and then forced him to put on a dress and called him “little girl.” And then say she did all of that because they’re friends now.

By the way, you know that saying about talking about the devil?

Alyson walked past with a gentle  _ smack _ to Harrison’s back, then did a double take and walked back to the row of computers where her boss and employees had converged.

“Woah, new guy..! First time I’m getting to see you without you rushing back and forth between floors to collect lunch orders. Woodrow Jace.” she looked him up and down, not even bothering to hold a hand out to him, then smiled wider. “I’m Alyson. Oliver. But everyone just calls me Alyson.”

“It’s nice to meet you, Ms. Alyson.”

“You too. I’m the manager of the financial department. I’m actually supposed to be the one giving you the tour, but since Harrison is  _ so _ nice and understanding and  _ such _ a great boss and I have  _ so _ much work to finish up-”

Harrison rolled his eyes. “And because I’ve already been training every employee that’s come in in the last few months.”

“Yeah see, Harry gets it! I’ve got to run, but expect to see more of me in the future. If you have any complaints or questions or things you want changed, like seating arrangements and.. Blah blah blah. Look, we’re a company that makes  _ sex _ toys, ignore everything Harry’s saying.” Harrison glared. “He’s probably the least formal person here out of everyone, anyways.”

She walked closer to Jace and put a hand on his shoulder, a reassuring expression on her face. “Ask anyone anything. We’re all friends here. Anyways, I gotta bounce,” she dropped her hand. “Ciao..!” And with that she wiggled her fingers in that pretty girl wave of hers and strutted out of the office like it was actually no one else’s business.

It was almost a nice moment, Harrison thought, but then Jace turned to him, with his smile morphing almost into a sneer. A sneer that made the hair on the back of Harrison’s neck stand straight up as memories flashed before his eyes. “Does everyone else here just call you Harrison, Mr. Clements?”

Harrison’s smile tightened. He could feel the burning of Tasha’s curious eyes on the side of his face as he answered a small, “Yes, it appears so.” He quickly followed it up with, “But that’s because I’ve known them longer. If you don’t mind, I’d prefer for you to call me Mr. Clements until we’re familiar with one another.”

Jace let out something akin to a soft chuckle through his nose. “Yes, sir.”

“And don’t call me Harry,” he quickly added. “Ever.”

Jace’s eyebrows raised, but he once again just said, “Yes, sir,” and that was Harrison’s cue to turn around and continue with his “tour.”

He took Jace through the motions. This is the printing room, those are the drink dispensers (a coffee machine next to a water dispenser, for all types in the office), this is the break room. Only go on break when you’re supposed to or if it’s an emergency, and if it’s an emergency, please inform another employee of what you’re doing. This is the hallway where the other offices are, Harrison’s office is down the hall and to the left, Alyson’s office is straight ahead. Emergency exits can be found at each corner of the room. Any questions?

Comically, and to Harrison’s unamusement, Jace raised his hand. “What reasons would we have for going to your office? You don’t actually run the financial department, do you?”

Harrison sighed and shook his head, considering how best to say what he needed to say. “My job is… complicated. I do lots of things, most of which don’t involve just the financial department. I’m in charge of supervising what you guys do every day, but I also do this for the sales department and marketing department. I’m just situated here mainly. From time to time you’ll see emails from me, I’ll probably be sending mass emails to you and the employees in your clump about specific things I need from you during the day, most of which shouldn’t need to be replied to. So that’ll be the main way we communicate. I’d say the only reason you’d ever need to come to my office is if something absolutely terrible has happened that has either set you back in your work significantly, or keeps you from working for an indeterminate amount of time. Like… a fire, or something.”

Jace snickered.

Harrison continued, “In which case I’d have to report it immediately to the CEO, and then formulate a work schedule that will get us around the unfortunate blockage in work.” He sighed again. “And even in that case, I’d say that Alyson is the most likely person that would come running into my office to inform me of said fire. So I guess… there’s really no reason you’d need to come into my office.”

He couldn’t tell for sure, it only happened for a split second, but as Harrison finished, he could almost see Jace deflate, like a child being told he couldn’t go up and hug the giant animatronic rat on stage even though it was his birthday.

“Understandable..”

Harrison stared at him for a while, and for a second he almost got lost. In those eyes. He just couldn’t get them out of his mind. But this time they were sad. Once Jace got to work in the department, he really wouldn’t get to see much of them. They didn’t even have the same lunch schedule. Maybe they’d make eye contact from time to time. But.. Harrison didn’t even want that to happen. Did he..?

“But,” he found himself saying before he could even really think about it, “if you really do just have a burning question.. Or want to talk with me, and I’m not too busy, you can come and see me.” He bit his lip. Just by the look on Jace’s face, he could tell he was going to regret it later.

“I mean,” he continued, he just couldn’t stop talking, “it’s not like you haven’t done it before. Back when you would take lunch and dinner orders. You had no problems barging into my office, it seems. And I guess.. You’re not the only one. I let all my employees come and talk to me if they need to. It’s like Alyson said..” he gulped. “We’re all friends here.”

He looked up to meet those eyes again. They were happy. The eyes of a pleased angel, he almost thought. He almost didn’t hate it. He almost couldn’t even remember what had happened just a week ago. It was just a faint memory, as Harrison stared up at his employee, who he was realizing had only ever just wanted to be Harrison’s friend in the beginning.

But, almost too soon, the moment was over, and Harrison remembered that friends didn’t typically palm each other through their sweatpants and then stare at each other as they climaxed the hardest they’d ever climaxed in their lives. He cleared his throat and looked away.

“But not often. Like I said, only if I’m not busy. And I tend to be.. very busy..”

“That’s understandable, Mr. Clements. I’ll keep that in mind if I ever need your advice on anything.”

Harrison scoffed, “Advice?”

“Well,” Jace shrugged, “what else do work friends talk about? I’m not really the kind to gossip… but we could always talk about  _ work _ ?”

Harrison stiffened and quickly glanced away. Was that his imagination? Jace couldn’t be referring to  _ that _ could he? Was he insinuating.. something else..?

He shook his head. “Let’s get you settled in with your computer a-and,” he cleared his throat again, trying to calm his fried nerves, “get you started on your first official day of work.”

\--

Harrison had thought that teaching Jace the basics of his job would have calmed Jace down a bit. Boy was he WRONG, Jace ate that shit UP and  _ then some _ . He acted like a complete child in a toy store every time Harrison opened up a new window and signed him into some new website that had a purpose that Jace was previously unaware that sites could have. He and Tasha had a, luckily, easy time getting him set up and describing the job to him. Harrison had no doubts that Jace would have several questions about how to do what he knew he had to do, but that wasn’t Harrison’s job. He sighed and walked back towards his office, giving Tasha a quick thumbs up for good luck as he disappeared around the corner. She was going to need it, after all.

Getting back to his office, he closed his door, pressed the power up button on his computer, and got lost in his own mind as he waited for the screen to light up.

His office was so much quieter than the rest of the office space. Out there, it sounded like people were actually alive in the building. Tens of hands typing away on a keyboard, hushed whispers and giggles about some stupid inside joke two employees had together, the sounds of phones ringing and people talking. People were alive out there. His employees were living. They were together.

Harrison.. Harrison was alone. Locked away at the dark end of a corridor, no reason to have his employees come visit him, he was alone. Back when he was working where Jace was working, he’d always dreamed of his own office. Of the silence it would bring. The calming nothingness of working by himself and being as productive as possible.

Not like this, though.. not when it was so suffocating…

As soon as that door was closed, it was just him and his computer. Just him and his work. From time to time, he’d have to read and reply to emails. He’d even have to leave his office quite often, usually for a meeting or to submit some kind of report. But other than that, it was just.

Silence.

Still.

Stale.

Confining.

Dark.

Hot.

Dead.

Suffocating.

_ Silence… _

**_Too much_ ** .

His screen turned on and he was almost violently pulled out of his own mind. He had work to do. Right. It would distract him. It would take him away. He couldn’t think about how quiet it was if he was thinking about what numbers meant. He typed in his login.

Loading.

_ Fuck _ .

\--

The day came and went. Lunch came and went. Harrison didn’t have Jace in his lunch period so he didn’t have to worry about anything new. It was just him and the gals. And thankfully they had stopped asking him about his sex life. The bruises were basically faded now anyways, so that must have been at least some reason why.

He’d had a meeting later on in the day with the board of executives, and he’d had to pass by Jace as he went out. But they didn’t even meet eyes. He could feel his presence, like a physical flame that was irritating his skin every time they were in the same room, but other than that, nothing was different. Jace was just… an employee.

So he was aggressively surprised when, just as he was about to head downstairs and leave the office, Jace just so happened to step into the elevator after him, clutching a thin black binder to his chest, and looking just as surprised as Harrison was. He turned to push the button for the lobby, and all of a sudden it was just them in the elevator. Which was….  _ Pleasant _ .

The same flame of presence from earlier was burning into Harrison’s side as he fought to continue staring straight ahead of him. The elevator began its slow crawl downward, and he almost felt like crying. Of course they just so happen to be on one of the uppermost floors of the building too. Because why wouldn’t they be? Harrison was beginning to think that everything in his life that had happened until now was leading to this very moment, and he almost wanted to curse fate out because, honestly, who played jokes like that on a person? It was actually quite rude.

But surprisingly, Jace seemed to be just as choked up as he was. Just as awkward… Staring just as forward, too. Harrison supposed that, in any normal circumstance, it would actually be pretty awkward to be standing in an elevator with one of your bosses that you barely got to really see. So he couldn’t blame the guy, or anything. But.. that didn’t excuse it. Here Harrison was, completely vulnerable and trapped in a small space with Jace, and he wasn’t even trying to speak to Harrison, let alone  _ tease _ him. Which… wasn’t even something Harrison wanted but still! You can’t just flip flop on a person with no reasoning why.

He cleared his throat and folded his arms across his chest, then plastered a smile on his face and turned to his employee. “How was your first day, sport?”

Harrison never called anyone sport, but whenever he was around Jace, he just felt the need to constantly remind everyone in the room that he was older than him. Which was understandable, right? Someone like Jace obviously had trouble retaining trains of thought like that, it was no wonder he so often forgot.

Jace almost jumped from the spot he was standing before he realized that Harrison was addressing him. He returned the smile. “It was a lot less stressful than I thought it would be. Tasha was a huge help, and everyone else was really nice too. I’m excited to get to know them more in the future.”

“Mm?” Harrison hummed absentmindedly. “Did you get to see more of Alyson too? She should have been watching over you today.”

“Oh yes..! She was also a big help, but it seemed like she was really busy most of the time. But we have a lunch break together, I’m pretty sure. So hopefully we’ll still manage to become close. She seems like a nice woman.”

“Yeah, she is… Good at her job too.” He gave Jace a quick once over and his eyes stopped on Jace’s tie. He almost reached out to touch it, but stopped himself. Instead, he just pointed. “That’s an interesting choice.”

Jace had to glance at him before he could tell what he was looking at. Then he glanced down. “Hm? Oh, my tie? Ah, yeah. I’m not very good at picking them out..”

Harrison snorted, “But yellow? Really, yellow. You should try sticking to blues and blacks mainly. Occasionally reds and grays. But colors like purple, green, yellow,” he shook his head, “don’t look good with suits. Not that you’ll get fired for wearing weird ties, it’s just nicer to look at you that way.”

Jace smirked. “You think it’s nice to look at me?”

“What..?! I-..” Harrison shook his head furiously as his smile quickly dropped off of his face. “No, I didn’t mean it like that..!”

Jace frowned as well and turned back to face the doors. “Oh, sorry. That was a weird joke.”

Harrison looked down and pursed his lips, not knowing how to respond. It wasn’t like he wasn’t used to crude humor, and it wasn’t like Jace’s joke was all that bad, it just… no. Just no. Harrison doesn’t have to explain himself to himself. Just no.

He looked back up at the door as well, shrugging. “It’s fine…” He trailed off, then turned to Jace, “Flirting isn’t really accepted in the office.”

“Oh! Yeah, no, I wasn’t trying to,” Jace sighed, “I’m really sorry. Really. It wasn’t meant to come out like that. I just have trouble joking with regular people I guess,” he laughed softly.

Harrison shook his head, “No no, the joke is fine. I’m just saying… for future reference.”

“Oh yeah of course! No, I completely understand. I wouldn’t even dream of it, heh.” Harrison raised an eyebrow at that and he shrugged. “Workplace relationships are typically frowned upon anyways. Besides I,” he shrugged again, “have a boyfriend-”

“You WHAT?” Harrison spun to face him fully, catching his employee off guard. He had the gall to look aghast at Harrison’s reaction, and Harrison couldn’t help but glare. “What’s wrong with you..?!”

Jace furrowed his eyebrows, “You didn’t let me finish-”

“Not only do you not have any respect for me, it seems,” by now he was almost yelling, poking an accusing finger into Jace’s chest as his employee was backed into a wall with his hands on either side of his head in self defense, “but no respect for anyone else, even your  _ boyfriend _ , apparently. Turns out you’re just extremely selfish and an absolute  _ asshole _ ..!” He crossed his arms. “Why would you even tell me that? Is there something actually wrong with you? Are you mentally ill? Do I need to fire you?”

Jace raised his hands higher. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry..! It was just a joke..!”

“He’s just a  _ joke _ to you?” Harrison scoffed. “Am  _ I _ just a joke to you? Is life just a joke to you? Obviously you’re always fucking smiling at everything, must be hard for you to take anything seriously. God you’re so fucking annoying.” He turned away. “I can’t believe you. And to think I was almost sad for being cold to you. When in reality you don’t care about anyone but yourself.”

He shook his head and bit his lip, not wanting to talk anymore, lest he actually start screaming in his employee’s face. His heart was beating fast and his face felt like it was on fire. Was this what it felt like to be seething? He felt like steam was pouring from his ears. He was so angry. So humiliated. All of a sudden he felt so used. Like his emotions were being put on display for an audience to gawk at. How dare he feel  _ sorry _ for Jace, what an idiot he was for feeling he should attempt to be nice to his employee. Jokes on him, he supposed. He felt like crying again. But like hell was he going to let Jace see even more of his emotions. Fuck. Fuck him..!

Just as he was about to swing back around and punch Jace across the face, the elevator doors opened and he bolted out of the confining metal room. He could hear the younger man calling out after him, but he didn’t feel like looking back. He’d end up doing something he could regret. He was almost to his car, anyways. Then he could go home and plot ways to get Jace fired and, if possible, arrested for something or other. But right now he just needed to get home. And punch his pillow. And probably cry himself to sleep. Because fuck him, right? Fuck his emotions that no one else needed to see, that always seemed to get in the way of everything. And fuck  _ Jace _ for thinking he could force his way into Harrison’s life and rearrange his feelings like he owned the place. Fuck that. Fuck  _ fuck- _

A sudden hand grabbing his arm forced him to stop just inches away from his precious car. He almost wanted to scream, and then he did scream, but that was because he was being spun around and his shoulders were being forcefully grabbed. He looked up to meet the eyes of, who else but, Jace, who looked like an actor in a film who was seconds away from professing his love to the female lead and then kissing her in the rain. Which was actually quite suiting for him, considering how much he’d been acting already.

Harrison tried to push Jace’s hands off of him, but just found himself being gripped harder and shaken back and forth. It managed to put him off guard, as well as managed to spin his brain around inside of his skull, to the point where he’d almost forgot why he was so mad at Jace. Almost, of course. He opened his mouth to talk but was cut off.

“Harrison, that was a joke,” Jace almost screamed. “Another stupid joke!” Once again Harrison tried to speak, but was once again cut off. “I don’t actually have a boyfriend!”

Wait wat.

Harrison furrowed his eyebrows. “I’m sorry, what?”

“I don’t  _ actually _ have a boyfriend, I was trying to tell you a joke but you cut me off..!” Once again, what?

Jace let go of him and sighed, running a hand through his hair as he calmed down a bit. “I was going to say, ‘I have a boyfriend. He’s imaginary, but we love each other very much.’ And then you were supposed to laugh and ask me what he was like and then I would tell you more jokes about, I don’t know, typical boyfriend stuff that everyone has to deal with or something. It was just a joke.” He chuckled softly. “My boyfriend isn’t real.”

Oh. Well… that’s awkward.

“That’s awkward.” Oh. Did he say that out loud? Oops, sucks.

“Yeah, very.” Jace took a deep breath and blew it out through his mouth. “I thought you were going to be mad at me forever over a stupid joke, and I would have never forgiven myself.”

Harrison stared past him, thoroughly confused, embarrassed, and still kind of angry. “To be fair.. It  _ was _ a really stupid joke.”

“Yes yes, I know..! Honestly I should have known, after how you reacted to the ‘nice to look at’ joke. I just don’t know how to talk to you… You seem so professional and hard to converse with.”

Harrison scoffed, “That’s not true.”

“It is true! Even at my house, we didn’t know what to talk about. It was just awkward for like five minutes because I have  _ no idea _ how to talk to you…” he trailed off, then suddenly got a worried look on his face. “Plus, I thought you hated me! I thought you had reported me to HR for what happened the other night and were trying to avoid me because you hate me and want to see me crash and burn for what I did!”

Harrison snorted. “Really?”

“Yes..! It was to the point where I kept avoiding you whenever I could, and whenever I saw you, it felt like my heart was going to explode and I felt like I couldn’t  _ breathe _ sometimes. I was so anxious.” He shook his head. “I fucking hate confrontation, Harrison. So much. Even today when you were showing me around the office. I’m pretty sure I was shaking. Did you notice?”

Harrison thought for a while, then shook his head. “No, I don’t think so… I was too busy worrying about myself and the underlying meanings to everything you said to me.”

That earned Harrison a laugh. “What a coincidence. So was I! That time when you said I could come and talk to you about anything, and then said ‘It’s not like you haven’t done it before,’ I was like ‘Oh shoot, he’s gonna talk about what I did on Thursday and then segue into me actually being fired.’”

That then earned  _ Jace _ a laugh. “Oh god, that would have been perfect, wouldn’t it? I don’t even know why I was afraid of you saying something weird, like that would have been such a problem or something. ‘Oh no, he mentioned the thing, I guess I have to die now!’”

That time they were both laughing. And quite hard.

Jace gulped in a breath and shook his head again. “I say ‘Harrison, do you remember when I tied you up and forced you to come,’ and then look over and you’re melting into dust.”

Harrison grimaced. “There’s a lot to unpack with that sentence, but it’s hard to do that when I might  _ actually _ be dying at the mention of what happened.”

Jace frowned and lowered his voice. “I’m really sorry, Harrison. What I did was so fucking stupid, I just, ugh.” He put a hand over his face as he groaned. “I was so excited to have you in my house and I took advantage of it, and every time I think about what I did I just feel like apologizing. I really am so sorry I put you through that. I can’t imagine how you must feel around me now.”

Harrison paused, thinking to himself for a moment, then a confused expression crawled across his face as he realized something. “It actually probably wasn’t that bad. I mean I felt embarrassed, but it wasn’t like I was losing sleep over it. Quite the opposite, actually..”

“Huh?” Jace looked up.

He shook his head. “Nevermind. I just don’t think I hated you  _ that _ much for it. Now that I think about it.. I was probably just overreacting. Overthinking it… like I’ve been doing so much today.”

“Don’t say that. You didn’t overreact. What I did was… terrible..!”

He looked up, then down, then glanced around the almost empty parking lot, then back up at Jace.. then back down at the floor.

“Well I didn’t.. hate it. Not  _ that  _ much. It just was weird. I barely knew you. I barely  _ know _ you.” What was he even saying now? All this time he’d hated it and hated Jace, so why was he saying all of this? He couldn’t even understand himself. But he couldn’t stop talking, either.

He leaned against his car and crossed his arms. “It’s not like it felt terrible or anything. Not in the moment, anyways. It just was a weird first impression.” He looked back up at him to see that Jace looked just as surprised as  _ he _ felt. “What you did was wrong, don’t misunderstand me. Had it been anyone else, you probably would have been fired or in jail or worse. But I didn’t tell anyone because…”

Because telling people would ruin his reputation, right? It would embarrass him, it might not even accomplish anything, right..?

“Because I didn’t hate it. I didn’t want to ruin the chance that it might happen again.”

What was he saying? What was he doing?! That wasn’t true. At least he didn’t think so?? Was his body doing its own thing, again? Like it had back when Jace’s hand was pressed against his crotch. He hadn’t wanted to, but he’d enjoyed it. And now he was telling Jace what he thought were lies, but what his body thought was the truth. Was that even possible? What was the truth..?!

“Of course,” he continued, straightening up a bit, “if it were to happen again, it would be consensual. And,” he paused. Then smirked. “The ropes would be less tight. I don’t like the bruises you left.”

Jace didn’t even respond. He was stuck in time, a dumbstruck look plastered over his face as Harrison got into his car, smiled at him one last time, and pulled out of his parking space.

He called out, “See you tomorrow, sport,” and was off. If there was one thing Harrison truly loved, it was having the last laugh. The look on Jace’s face lingered in his mind as he made his way home. Even as he thought back to what he’d said to Jace.

What was he thinking? Even now? What was he  _ really _ trying to say? It made no sense, even to himself. It was like two different people were in his head, arguing about what he really felt. What was the truth? Did he hate it and hate Jace? Did he want.. More?

He had nightmares about it! But they were wet dreams.

What Jace did was wrong! But it had felt so good..

Harrison wasn’t into bdsm to begin with! But he had been reading about it lately...

No matter what he thought, it was impossible not to contradict himself. He hated it, but it had felt  _ good _ . So then.. what did that mean? Was he going insane? Was he actually a freak who had issues he needed to sort out? What was the truth?!

He kept wondering about that, even as he got home and bent down to pick up the package that had been deposited on his welcome mat. His thoughts were interrupted by a brief flash of excitement. Overnight shipping really was overnight.

\--

His fingers were curled into his sheets as he turned his head and moaned into his pillow. He closed his legs over his hand and tried to press his palm even further down into his crotch. It was impossible, of course, but that didn’t stop him from trying. It felt so good, after all. So fucking good.

The vibrations from his toy was making his whole body tremble with his impending orgasm. He felt like a wound up coil that was moments away from bursting, and each vibration was just winding him up more. He panted and ticked the vibrations up a notch, then  _ keened _ as his back arched off of his bed and his palm was grinding hard into his crotch.

He caught himself drooling and looked back up towards the ceiling. His room was dark and hot, it almost felt like he was suffocating. Like he would pass out from just getting  _ close _ . Light headed. He was so out of it. It felt like he was floating on a vibrating cloud and he loved every second of it.

He put his other hand on his stomach, feeling the familiar heat pool beneath his skin and his muscles jump and twitch while he teetered on the edge. He’d only started a few minutes ago and he already felt like he was going to come undone in a matter of seconds. But he was just out of reach, it felt. He just needed a little bit more.

He, painstakingly, opened his legs again and moved the vibrator off of his crotch, only to move it from resting on top of his underwear to being right against his throbbing tip. A hard twitch racked his whole body as his breath stuttered for a second, and then he was moaning again as he pressed down harder on the contact between his dick and the toy.

It was pressed right against his slit, and he had the fleeting fear that he might somehow pee himself with how foreign the toy felt. The thought was quickly pushed away, though, when he moved the vibrator further downward, towards his base, and then slowly up his shaft until it once again rested on his slit.

He bit his lip, trapping the toy between his palm and his shaft, and then began pumping his hand up and down quickly, much to his delight.

He almost  _ screamed _ , throwing his head back against his pillow with a smile. It was so good. He was vaguely aware of how many inches his hips were off of his bed, and he was painfully aware of how much his whole body was  _ trembling _ , but he couldn’t be bothered to care about it. He was close. He was so close and it was  _ so good _ .

If only Jace could see him now, he thought. The boss he’d thought was so fragile and scarred after what he’d done, jerking off to the thought of his employee watching him please himself. Using the toy that Jace had shown him how to use. Making a face that Harrison wasn’t even aware he himself could make. If only he could see. What would he do then?

He’d smile. Reach out for him, even. Ask Harrison how he was feeling. Did it feel good? It seemed like he was enjoying himself quite a bit. He was shaking so much, he must be so close. It must feel so good. So good. Harrison wanted to come, didn’t he? Did Harrison want to come?

Harrison nodded with a whine, then bit his lip. He was almost embarrassed, thinking about his employee like that, but he found that he could barely even think at all. All he could do was imagine him. Those hands. That smile. Those  _ eyes _ . He was.. he was..!

Harrison came with something akin to a scream, his body tensing up and convulsing as he emptied himself into his still pumping hand. He stayed completely still for a while as the heat that was pooling in him earlier was quickly leaking out of him in one form or another. He couldn’t think. Couldn’t even breathe. It felt like he was frozen in heaven. He almost didn’t want to leave.

Finally, he collapsed back against his bed, closing his eyes and feeling a wave of tiredness and satisfaction settling over him. He laid there for a moment, just feeling. His chest was rising and falling rapidly, gradually slowing down with the speed he was panting. He could feel drool and tears rolling down his face, into his hair that was sticking to his forehead and cheeks in multiple places. His face felt like it was on fire, but was quickly being cooled with the waft of cold ac around his room. The vibrations had stopped by now, he’d turned them off once he’d gained enough of his mind back to remember how to, but it still felt like his lower body was thrumming with the energy that had surged through it just moments before. He felt wrecked.

After what felt like forever, he’d completely calmed down. He sat up in his bed and staggered off to the bathroom to wash his hands and his new toy. Which just might have been the best thing he’d bought since he’d left college.

He inspected it once more. A pretty silver bullet vibrator, much like the one Jace had. It only took a few batteries but it felt so powerful. Five vibration settings controlled by a dial at the base of it. Truly a wonderful toy. Harrison was having a hard time believing he’d only recently been notified of its existence. Why was the world keeping it from him for so long?

Once he finished washing his hands, he took a few sheets of tissue paper and wiped himself off, vaguely wondering if he should shower now or in the morning. But then he was turning off the bathroom lights.

He put the toy on his dresser once he’d stepped out of the bathroom, then flopped onto his bed. His sheets were damp where he’d been laying earlier and was sweating onto them, so he rolled over onto his side and laid there for a while, quiet and still in his now silent room.

He couldn’t help but feel uselessly lonely after what he’d done. He’d been so passionate just moments before, but now the moment was over and he sort of just felt.. uncomfortably isolated. And tired, thankfully, but mainly isolated.

He glanced at the clock on his bedside table, the time reading 11 PM. Kind of early for when he’d usually be sleeping. But he closed his eyes and got under his sheets nonetheless. He was exhausted today. He’d felt a hundred different emotions in the span of the last 29 hours, and all he wanted to feel now was sleepy.

The time was ticking just past 11:34 when his mind finally started drifting off. Before he could fall asleep, though, he started hallucinating just a little bit. The feeling of the sheet against his shoulder felt, just for a moment, like a warm arm draped around him and pulling him close. He almost had the thought to push his body backwards to see if it’d come into contact with a warm chest, but by then he’d stopped thinking of anything.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks again for reading, my wonderful viewers. I'm so glad you guys gave me the chance to create this story for you, and if the kudos and hits are anything to go by, you guys are really enjoying it! I have tons more stories that I want to make but I'm not sure if they'd be as liked as this one is. I think of a lot of... weird things.
> 
> I hope you enjoyed the roller coaster of emotions that I've subjected you and Harrison to. It's Harrison's fault, really, for being such a god damn slut. Which might not make sense now, but trust me. If there's one thing Harrison is, it's a god damn slut. And also a good boss, but mainly a slut.
> 
> Not quite sure what the next chapter will be about yet, but this story will continue moving on at a steady pace so buckle up, choo choo, we're going off the fucking rails at some point. See you next week, hopefully!


	8. A Drink Together

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jace wants to get to know Harrison more, so Harrison starts downing more drinks than he knows is good for him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Welcome back! This time I didn't have as much trouble writing the chapter, hooray! It just took so long to come out because I've spent the last few days working on another story that I was very excited to release! It's very very fun writing. I hope I don't get depressed again and lose all interest in my hobbies like I do every few months :D
> 
> This chapter's actually kinda short, I think. I just didn't have more to write. I hope you enjoy it anyways! A romance is budding..! And Harrison's pants are almost ready to just drop to the floor. Just needs a few more pushes, hmm..
> 
> Also, TRIGGER WARNING for later in the chapter with non consensual kissing and stuffs. Don't make out with drunk people!! They can't consent!
> 
> Please enjoy reading!

“You wanna go out to lunch?”

Harrison looked up from his computer to see Alyson leaning against his door frame, twirling her car keys in her hand with a pleasant smirk on her face. He looked back down and clicked send on the email he was compiling.

“Are you asking me on a date?” he asked, leaning back in his chair and meeting her eyes again.

“You and I know very well that I’m too feminine for you,” she replied, “but I'm flattered at the idea. Trust me.” Harrison watched as she moved from her position near the door and came closer to her boss, leaning against his desk when she was right in front of him. Her chest was… hanging.. precariously just a few inches from his face… he reached out and pulled her collar up to her neck.

“Well, I’d love to go to lunch, but my lunch isn’t for another hour.”

“Ohh poppycock,” she waved the statement away like a cobweb, taking on an odd British accent for some reason. Harrison snorted. “You’re a boss, you can go to lunch whenever the fuck you want. Come on. Humor me.” Then she pouts. “I’m gonna be stuck at a cafe with a bunch of children who don’t have the same sense of humor as you do.” Harrison eyed her suspiciously, not really getting it, until she reached out and grabbed his arm, gently shaking him back and forth. “You’re my soulmate, Harrisooon. You have tooooo.”

“Soulmate is a strong word,” he pulled his hand out of her grip. “I’d say more like you’re me from an alternate universe except a lot gayer for some reason.”

“We don’t use gay as an insult in this building, Mr. Clements.”

“Who said I was insulting you?” He raised an eyebrow. “I love you, Alyson.”

“Awww, I love you too. Come to lunch with me.” A smile stretched across her face. Harrison sighed and shrugged, pushing himself out from behind his desk. Her face lit up even more before he held a hand out to her face with a scowl.

“I have a meeting to go to.” This brought another pout to Alyson’s face. “But since we’re not going to work tomorrow,” he sighed, knowing he was about to regret this, “why don’t we just go drinking after work?”

“Oh, Harrison, how scandalous. I’m in. Also since Jason went home sick a few minutes ago, boss said you have to do the rest of his work.”

Harrison groaned, “Whyyyyyyy?!”

“Cause Jason went home sick! It’s not that much. He just had to change a few prices for some of the items on the online shop. We’re having an Easter day sale. And hey! Now’s your chance to get a look at some of the toys you were so interested in the other day!” She lowered her voice. “They have these cute new little easter egg toys.”

Harrison’s eyebrows furrowed. “What.. what do you do with them?”

Alyson just chuckled and walked back to the door to his office. “I really wish you’d go to lunch with me! Now I’m going to look awkward sitting in a cafe all by myself.”

“On the brightside,” he picked up a binder sitting on his desk and followed after her, “you might find some cute new boy toy and get his number.”

“Oh please, boytoys are so 2010. Everyone’s gay nowadays, Harrison.”

Harrison pursed his lips. “I don’t think being gay is a trend.”

“I’m sorry I offended your people.”

He scoffed. “I’m not a homosexual. I just have respect for other people’s choices and personalities.”

“Being gay is neither a choice  _ nor _ a personality, Harry. I guess we both need to get educated.”

“I’ve actually been doing some research,” he butted in before he could stop himself, “and it’s a lot more complicated than that, I think. Do you know what a ‘pansexual’ is?”

A wide smirk stretched across Alyson’s lips. “Please. Enlighten me.”

“Well apparently it’s someone who’s attracted to a person regardless of their gender, or something like that. Apparently it’s kind of like a bisexual but without any kind of preference.”

Alyson laughed, turning to face him once they got to the elevators. Harrison couldn’t help but feel annoyed as he pushed the button to call it to them.

“No no no,” she waved her hand wildly, much to more of Harrison’s annoyance, “I’m not laughing at you! I’m not laughing  _ at _ you, I swear. It’s just interesting…!”

“What’s interesting?” He crossed his arms.

“Well it’s interesting how much you understand after, like, one google search whilst I had to wait my entire life to understand myself.”

Harrison stared at her, then did a double take, confusion crossing over his features like a solar eclipse.

“You’re a pansexual..?!”

“And you’re a gay. Can we get a harder question, please?”

“You know, that actually makes a lot of sense… I was starting to wonder what kind of guy would ever want to go out with you.”

“Haaah?? Twinks exist in this world, ya know, Harry! Actually, you  _ should _ know. You  _ are _ one.”

“I don’t know what that is but I’m offended.”

The elevator doors opened and they stepped inside.

“You’ll learn when you’re older,” she purred, reaching out to press the button for the bottom floor.

Harrison pressed the button for the floor he needed to be on and leaned back against the metal wall with a sigh. He almost felt calmer, now that he was talking to Alyson. She got on his nerves like crazy but she was kinda right, they might as well have been soulmates. Except they weren’t meant to be together romantically at  _ all _ . Just thinking about it made his stomach turn. Eugh. No. Not that kind of soulmate  _ at all _ .

Alyson and Harrison had worked together for the past seven years. Back when Harrison was sitting at the desks his employees now work at, he and Alyson sat across from each other and occasionally would chat to each other when they had time. By then he’d already been working at the company for 3 years and had seen it progress from a skin/body care company to a sex toy company. Then gradually from a sex toy company to a bdsm toy company, once bdsm had, obviously, gotten a lot more popular. He and Alyson had been close then, too. She’d say something vulgar, he’d tell her she was crazy, and then she’d make a joke and then they’d laugh. It was consistent but that was what was nice about it. Consistency. Security. Safety. If everything was the same, nothing would ever go wrong.

Harrison smiled to himself as he watched the elevator doors slowly closed with them resting side by side in the room. Yes, being with Alyson was nice..

“Wait, hold the door!” Someone called out. Just as Harrison was about to reach a hand out to motion the automatic doors to stay open, he froze. No. He recognized that voice.

Alyson raised a hand and he put his arm out to stop her. She looked at him, confused, and he just looked back, terror written across a grimace plastered on his face. He slowly shook his head, mouthing the word “no”, and she laughed hard.

The doors were just moments from closing when a hand managed to reach into the small crack between them and almost  _ pry _ them apart. Just Harrison’s luck, he guessed. As the doors flew back open, he was greeted with the confused, then pleased face of who else but Jace fucking Woodrow, the bane of his office-life existence. He thought. He still wasn’t quite sure what he wanted but he still wasn’t willing to admit it… He fought the groan piling up in the back of his throat.

“Did you not hear me..?” Jace raised an eyebrow as he stepped inside and leaned against the wall opposite to the pair.

“No,” Harrison ground out between gritted teeth, “sorry. She was telling me something important. It took all of my attention from the world around me.”

“Oh yes!” Alyson piped up. “We were  _ just _ talking about how Harrison is a twink.”

Jace  _ snorted _ .

“What? What does that mean?! Why is it funny??”

“Don’t tell him, he’d just get angry,” Alyson continued, also struggling to hold back laughter.

“You know,” Harrison folded his arms, “I can get you suspended if you make inappropriate comments about coworkers like that.”

“You would never report me! Besides, you’re not a coworker, you’re my best friend. I’ve seen all those times you’ve thrown up over the laps of women at the bar you’re trying to take home. Heard all those times you’ve cried drunkenly after said woman refused to go back to your place. And also once fist-fought you that one time-”

“Don’t remind me of that, I still have nightmares about it,” he groaned.

“What happened that one time?” Jace asked, his gaze darting between his manager and his boss with a look of confusion draped over his face.

“If I told you, Harrison’d kill me. But just know it’s nsfw.”

The look on Jace’s face turned from confused to unpleasantly surprised in a matter of seconds, which made Harrison jolt as he quickly tried to cover the messy tracks Alyson had left behind.

“Nsfw as in not safe for work, not as in lewd. She just means it’s not an appropriate topic to talk about at work.” He found himself blushing. “Not.. like  _ that _ .”

“Ah, sorry for assuming,” Jace chuckled.

This time it was Alyson’s turn to laugh. “Yeah, Harrison’s never done a lewd thing in his life. I bet he apologizes after sex.”

“Alyson!”

She shrugged. “It’s not inappropriate, it’s work! You work for a sex toy company but you’re also terribly vanilla, there’s nothing wrong with comparing the two.”

Harrison glared, then lowered his voice, “Well, not in front of an employee.”

“Oh I don’t mind!” This time it was Jace’s turn to speak, Harrison supposed. “It doesn’t creep me out or anything. It just makes you guys seem more human.” Harrison and Alyson stared at him like he was a talking frog with a third nipple and he pursed his lips. “I mean… You guys are our bosses. You’re on a whole different level from us. You could fire us with, like, the flick of a finger, right?” Harrison shook his head while Alyson nodded. “But when you talk about stuff like that, and in the way that you talk about it, it just sort of reminds me that you guys are just as human as we are… I don’t know. If that makes sense.”

“No no, I get it,” Alyson almost interrupted. “I get it completely, I think. You just feel closer to us personally, right?” Jace smiled with a nod.

Harrison didn’t want to say it, but he also understood. He had that feeling with his bosses when he was younger too. He used to think the CEO of Opera Corp was a sophisticated big guy that could eat him alive if he was just feeling up for it. But now that he knew him personally, the guy made just as many mistakes and was just as awkward as Harrison felt. Despite the title and the mansion, even despite the power, Harrison’s boss threw up after drinking too much, just like every other human being on the planet.

“I really wish I could get to see more of you guys, though,” Jace continued, pulling Harrison from his thoughts. “Not that I’m not already thankful for what you do as my bosses, but you guys genuinely seem really fun. I kinda wish I could become closer friends with you.”

Harrison couldn’t help but blush again. Jace was reminding him of the first day they really met each other. Even back then he’d told Harrison how much he’d wanted to be friends with him. Right before he… stared through Harrion’s soul as he…

Harrison felt like  _ screaming _ .

“Well, who said you couldn’t?” Alyson questioned, speaking before Harrison had the chance to respond for himself. “In fact, Harrison and I were thinking of going out drinking tonight. Why don’t you join us?”

“I don’t..” Harrison cut himself off.

Jace tilted his head, visibly trying and failing not to smirk. “Really? I’d love to! But.. would Harrison even be okay with that? He looks like he’s about to set himself on fire.”

Harrison didn’t need his employee to tell him that he was blushing, Harrison  _ knew _ he was blushing, okay? Didn’t need to be so fucking rude about it.

Harrison just shrugged and glanced up at the elevator’s monitor above the doors. It felt like they’d been riding the elevator for ages.

“Well,” he said slowly, not quite knowing what to say after just ‘well’, “if we invite you, we’d have to invite every other employee too. Don’t want to show favoritism.”

“Why don’t we??” Alyson spoke up again. “Let’s invite all of the financial department out for drinks. Most of them will probably pass anyways. Might as well just ask to be polite.”

Jace’s smile widened. “Then yes, I’d love to come out drinking with you. I just have a few more things to finish anyways. I should be done by the time I need to leave.”

“Perfecto, mon ami!”

Harrison furrowed his eyebrows. “That’s two different languages.”

FINALLY the elevator doors opened and Jace stepped out. Harrison followed, glancing back at Alyson with a death glare right before she gave him a terrifying wink that he wasn’t sure he wanted to know the meaning of.

“See you two later..!” And with her pretty girl wave, the elevator doors closed, and it was just Harrison and Jace in the hallway.

They walked in silence for a while. Harrison wasn’t sure why Jace was in the same hallway as he was in, and he was starting to think that Jace was going to the same meeting he was. But that wouldn’t make any sense, right? Harrison didn’t go to meetings with one employee and not the rest of them. Jace wasn’t special. Right? Things weren’t different just because he so happened to be  _ that _ guy..  _ Right _ ?

“Mr. Clements?”

“Huh?!”

“Are you okay..?”

Harrison was doing that thing again where Jace would be talking and he wouldn’t be listening and Jace would have to call out to him to make sure he was okay. You know,  _ that _ thing.

“I’mmmmm gucci.” God that was pathetic. Why did he say that. Someone please shoot Harrison between the eyes with a double barrel shotgun.

Jace snorted. “Nobody actually says that anymore.”

“They do on facebook.” He fought the urge to slap himself across the face.

“How old are you again?” Jace asked, raising an eyebrow.

Harrison could feel his face physically cringing. It hurt. “What was it you were saying before? Sorry I wasn’t listening.”

“Oh no, it’s fine. I was just asking if it was really okay for me to join you and Alyson for drinks. You seemed pretty hesitant before..”

“Oh…” he trailed off, turning from him and gazing at the walls they were walking past. Adorned with pictures of successful employees who’d worked in the office at one point or another. Harrison wasn’t on this wall. “No, it’s okay. I just.. didn’t want to seem too friendly to you in front of Alyson.” Was that true? He turned back to him. “If she saw me being chummy with you and eager to let you join us, she’d know something was up.”

This time both of Jace’s eyebrows were raising. “ _ Is _ something up?

“I don’t know, you tell me.” Harrison fought a smirk. “You didn’t seem to react to that ‘vanilla’ comment she made earlier.” Harrison hated himself. But he couldn’t stop talking for some reason. “Maybe I’m misinterpreting things.”

Jace huffed, then chuckled. “You’re something else, Harrison.”

“That’s Mr. Clements to you.”

Jace’s eyes narrowed as he turned and headed down an adjacent hallway from the one Harrison continued to walk down. He turned over his shoulder to glance at Harrison one last time, who gave him a pleasant smile as he disappeared around a corner.

Well that was interesting. Seems like Harrison is actually a fucking snake, fun! His expression soured. He  _ really _ wished someone would shoot him between the eyes with an automatic rifle.

\--

Bleblelblelblebleh.

Meetings are so fucking boring.

You’d think that after years of having to go to them and pretending to know what everyone else is talking about, Harrison would have gotten used to attending them and would have come to even enjoy them or something. Nope. Just.. a bunch of old white guys sitting in a room talking about how much fucking money they were making. Not that Harrison considered himself an old white guy, but these days anyone over the age of 25 was considered old.

He fought a snicker as he thought back to Jace asking him how old he was after he basically told him he frequented facebook.

“Something funny, Mr. Clements?”

Harrison straightened up in his chair and glanced across the table to one of the members of the board of executives who had interrupted his thoughts. Guess he was having a really bad time fighting things today. Damn.

He sighed and shook his head, looking back to the person presenting at the head of the table. “No, sorry about that. Something personal. Won’t happen again.”

“Are you even aware of what we’re talking about?” The executive continued to pester him. All of a sudden Harrison remembered who he was. That asshole who’d always hated him from the moment their eyes met, which was like three years ago. It wasn’t even like Harrison had done anything to deserve that treatment, guess Harrison was just too fucking ugly for him or something. What was his name again? Mr. Hanky Panky or something?

Harrison tried not to let his annoyance show as he answered, “Of course, sir. We were just discussing a new layout for the website to match the easter day theme for the time being.” He smiled pleasantly. “Personally, I really like the third option. What say you?”

Mr. Hanky Panky leaned back in his chair, eyeing Harrison suspiciously. Harrison’s smile just widened. Fuck this guy.

“I think all the options are lackluster. We should be drawing more attention to the toys on sale, not just the newer ones.”

The person giving the presentation, the head of the online marketing department, frowned. “With all due respect, Mr. Hanks,” ah, so that was his name, “I think that by making the newer toys we have at the front and center, we’d be catching our customer’s curiosity and making them more likely to spend more to have something different.”

“Exactly,” Harrison nodded. “The third option.”

This earned scattered mumbles across the table. Harrison glanced back toward Mr. Hanks, who had an expression like he wanted to strangle Harrison once Harrison left to use the bathroom, and Harrison suppressed the urge to stick his tongue out and cross his eyes like a child.

Instead, he continued. “Furthermore, I think it should coincide with the prices of the toys on the forefront. We should display the cheaper new toys first, and the more expensive toys last. The financial department is still working on the new prices for the items on sale and the newer items, but it should be basically worked out by the end of the day. I can have a list sent to you before I clock out. How does that sound?”

The presenter smiled. “That would be great, Mr. Clements. Thank you.”

He smiled back, then at Mr. Hanks again. To say that Harrison didn’t know how to do his job correctly was, simply, wrong.

The angry director cleared his throat. “Well then, Harrison, you had something you wanted to tell the rest of us, right?”

Harrison nodded and stood up, picking up his binder and going to replace the head of marketing at the foot of the table. His eyes wandered around the room of gazes before him. It wasn’t that he disliked being stared at. He just… hated it.

He cleared his throat. “Well, as you’re all probably aware, sales have been wonderful lately. However, that also means we’ve been running out of toys in stock only a few days after they’re put up on the website. The shelves are still lined with products in stores, but since we’re in a new age, the majority of our toys brought have slowly been shifting from in person to online. Which is why I think we should stop supplying as many toys to stores, and should leave most of them up for sale on the online shop.”

Harrison had a confession to make.

The only reason he knew this was because he’d gone onto the website himself.

He was ashamed to admit how frustrated he’d been in the past few days because he’d found a toy that looked amazing but was already out of stock and had been for the past month. And since he wouldn’t be caught  _ dead _ in an adult toy store buying vibrators for himself, he just sorta cried about it. Not literally but you get what that means.

So it was only natural that he bring it up with his bosses at the next meeting he went to. It was just downright unacceptable at that point. Some of those vibrators looked really good, and Harrison was a selfish bitch.

“I also think,” he continued, “we should add more features to the website.” He gulped. “This isn’t really coming from a financial point of view, I don’t think, but more of maybe a pr point of view?”

“Please get to the point, Mr. Clements,” Mr. Hanks spoke up. Because of course he would. He always has to say  _ something _ .

Harrison cleared his throat. “Well, to put it simply, I think we should make the site more bdsm beginner friendly.. When you first open up the website, someone who’s new to bdsm would probably feel very overwhelmed and confused. Which is why I think we should add more features to the website that make it easier to jump into the world of, ehm, bdsm, and attract more potential customers. People should feel welcome when they open the website, they should feel like they’ve finally found something that they can really get with without feeling ashamed.”

“What kind of features?” another executive asks. By now, most of the people in the room have their hands on their chins or confused expressions on their face, as if they’re watching Harrison display the newest teleportation technology that works by screaming, whipping out your dick, and then jumping five times.

So Harrison continued to continue. “Well, features like.. Tests..! What style of bdsm are you most into? Are you dominant or are you submissive? Sadist or masochist? Gentler or rougher than others who are into bdsm?” The looks on the others’ faces just seemed to get more confused as Harrison went on. He wanted to stop but he couldn’t just leave it there.. “Speaking of others who are into bdsm, why not give our customers a chance to interact with one another? We already have the review system, but why not make it easier to meet up with other people who are into bdsm in your area? Maybe not have full on _chat_ _rooms_ but…”

“I think I get what you’re saying,” this time it’s the presenter who was before him, the head of online marketing. “I think it’s a great idea, honestly..! And it’s not like it hasn’t been done before. People can post to an online forum, others can comment and reply and have conversations. It would give customers a safe place to talk about bdsm activities.”

Harrison smiled. “Yes, exactly.. Like I said, not really a financial thing at the moment, but I think overtime it will earn us a lot more new and longtime customers in the future. I drew up a few documents and spreadsheets about potential ideas to get customers more involved with Opera Toys and Opera Toys customers and what I think the potential financial effects will be from the choices we choose to make,” he almost sang, holding up his binder full of papers.

There were scattered agreements and murmurs throughout the small meeting room. Harrison met the eyes of the head of online marketing and they shared another smile together.

\--

“I am a genius, and you’re welcome for the pay raise coming to your bank account in the future,” Harrison announced with a flourish as he held open the bar doors for Alyson and a few of his other employees who had already arrived.

Alyson walked past him with a look of amused confusion and leaned against the doorframe, watching him. He eventually let go of the door and walked inside himself. “May I ask why I should be thanking you for a future pay raise?”

“Oh, only because I just convinced the board of executives to completely remake the entire face of Opera Corp and will be getting us an influx of paying customers in the coming months once the project is launched.” He smiled proudly to himself while she led them over to the bar’s counter and sat herself down on a stool. He hopped up onto the stool beside her and spun around happily. “Like I said, I’m a fucking genius, and life is about to get a hell of a lot more interesting for a while.”

“What’s the project, oh genius one?” He could hear the amusement in her voice even before he turned to face her. She didn’t seem convinced.

“Oh you know, how about a whole new section of the website that leads to a forum and bdsm quizzes and activities for people who want to buy our toys. Designed to rope people in and to keep them tied to us. Just like they do in the bedroom.”

“I don’t think people get tied to one another in the bedroom, but go off I guess.”

He scoffed. “Actually, in the case that you have two or more submissives in one room, it’s sometimes completely necessary.”

Alyson let out an ugly snort and banged her hand against the counter, making Harrison scowl.

“Submissives?? Just call them bottoms, Harrison. It’s okay to say bottom.”

He crossed his arms, “You can be a top and be submissive..!”

She stared at him for a long while, her smile growing wider by the second. She looked like she was about to open her mouth to say something but this time Harrison was too quick for her.

“Before you fucking ask!” He paused, already regretting his decision to talk. “I have been… doing research… about bdsm stuff.”

Alsyon laughed again.

“Not that I hadn’t been doing it before!” he blurted out. “Because I have to know what kind of toys will sell better than others, but I’ve  _ really _ been doing research lately. Because I want to make the company just.. better. We could change some things about what we do and the toys we sell. To make our customers more satisfied.”

“Like making some of our ropes softer?”

Harrison could feel his ears burn as he turned to face Alyson with a confused and somewhat worried expression. Subconsciously, his hands darted out to rub at his wrists. But there was no reason to, because the bruises had faded away, hadn’t they? Were they still there? Was it still possible to tell they were rope burns? How did Alyson know…?

“What’s with that look on your face?” She gazed back at him with a look of pure confusion and unease that made him feel stupid. Of course she was just saying things to say things. It didn’t actually mean anything…

“No reason. Just wondering why we aren’t ordering any drinks yet..”

She laughed at that and Harrison relaxed. He was way too tense for the start of the weekend. He needed to relax. He was at a bar after all. He raised his hand to call the bartender to him and ordered a simple rum and coke, which Alyson then bashed him for before downing a shot of whiskey. Alyson would be the death of him one day.

Harrison had finished half of his drink and had gotten caught up in an argument with Alyson about which kind of tea was the superior kind of tea to have and when to have it, when someone else came and sat on the other side of him. A chill ran up his spine. He had a feeling he knew who it was, but didn’t want to give him the satisfaction of turning and greeting him first. He turned to face Alyson fully and tried not to be too bothered with his presence.

He and Alyson continued to talk about random, unrelated crap as tension built up between him and the presence behind him. That same flame that he felt in the office was burning against his back like an unanswered phone call that just would not go to voicemail no matter how many minutes passed. Alyson would occasionally glance up at the person behind Harrison but then look back down at Harrison and continue to pretend things were okay.

As time stretched on and Harrison drank more, he started to get the feeling that he was being played for a joke. The look on Alyson’s face as she looked behind Harrison, then back down at him, like she and Jace had some inside joke playing like a movie above Harrison’s head. It made his blood boil, but he didn’t want to give them the satisfaction of having to acknowledge his existence before anyone else did. No doubt they’d start making jokes about it. His blood boils.

Several minutes passed and Harrison was starting to get fed up. Wasn’t he going to talk to Harrison at all? He was the one who’d practically invited himself to drink with him and Alyson. And now he was being a petty asshole about it. Harrison tried not to show how annoyed he was, but the more he drank, the harder it was for him to deny his own feelings. He was annoyed, alright.

With a huff, he turned in his seat and snapped his head towards the nuisance at his back. “You know, you could at least say hi..” He trailed off as an unfamiliar face looked back at him in confusion. He could feel his own face light up like hellfire as he mumbled, “nevermind,” and turned back to drown himself with alcohol.

The person beside him chuckled, turning to look at him fully. “I didn’t know I was supposed to be friendly, but I can do that. Hi. What’s your name?”

Harrison gulped. “Uh.. Harrison. You?”

“Hugo.” He held out a hand to Harrison. Nice to meet you, Harrison.”

Honestly, he looked and sounded like a Hugo. He looked like what Harrison thought a werewolf in their human form would look like. His hand practically enveloped Harrison’s as they exchanged greetings, and Harrison couldn’t help but think that if Hugo had found Harrison annoying instead of somehow amusing, Harrison’s head would be crushed between two palms the size of watermelons.

“Sorry for snapping at you like that,” Harrison continued to mumble. “I thought you were someone else.”

“Oh don’t worry about it. Surprisingly, I get it all the time.” Hugo chuckled again, his laughter making every cavity in Harrison’s body rumble with its depth. Harrison gave him a half laugh in response and attempted what he hoped to be a charming smile.

“Sounds like you have a few stories to tell.”

“Well, who’s willing to listen?”

Harrison glanced at Alyson, who by now had walked off to chat to some of their employees at a table across the bar. Among the employees, he couldn’t see Jace’s face anywhere. Even glancing around the bar, it didn’t seem like he’d even decided to come after all. His face soured.

Then his gaze landed back on Hugo, who was sipping whatever drink was in his cup while eyeing Harrison curiously. Harrison’s own cup was hopelessly empty after he’d downed it in an attempt to drown out the embarrassed demons in his head. He was going to need another cup, though.

He shrugged. “Depends, who’s going to buy me another drink?”

\--

Turned out Hugo  _ did _ have a few stories to tell. Some of which were probably made up to make Harrison laugh, but as time went on Harrison was finding it harder and harder to care. And also easier and easier to laugh. It seemed like hours had passed when all of a sudden Harrison was laughing at Hugo ordering him another drink for some odd reason. Just something about the way the liquid swashed around in the cup along with the ice. Made Harrison’s brain feel all warm inside. Harrison wanted to throw up.

“You might have had too much to drink,” Hugo said after Harrison tried and failed for the third time to raise his cup to his mouth.

“Mm. Mmaybe.” Harrison fought to get the words out of his mouth without letting them sound like garbled gibberish. The world felt like a dizzying carnival ride and he vaguely wondered if he was spinning or the bar was spinning, but either way someone was spinning.

“Maybe we should get you out of here,” Hugo replied, getting up from the stool he’d been sitting on for what seemed like the past hour.

“Ogay,” Harrison giggled, stumbling out of his own stool and almost falling on his face. “I had too mmujch choo dring..” He managed to catch himself before he fell, but now he was somehow spinning even faster than he had been before. He hiccuped. “I godda tehll Lalyson…” he trailed off, eyes searching the bar for a familiar face.

“It’ll be okay.” Hugo took his arm and began leading him out of the bar. “She knows where you are. She’ll call you in the morning.”

Harrison didn’t quite understand but he followed along anyways. Cold air hit him across the face as they stepped out into the summer night. He pulled his arms around himself and smiled at the warm feeling coming from inside him from all the alcohol he’d had.

“Iht’s cold..” he giggled again, swaying. He reached out to hold onto Hugo for support. “Where whe going..?” Looking around the empty street, Harrison was roughly pulled into an adjacent alley between two buildings near the bar. He was about to ask where they were going again, but then a sweet tasting mouth was on his and his words were drowned out into whimpers and moans.

The mouth against his mouth was rough, biting and licking at Harrison’s lips hungrily. He parted his lips and Hugo’s tongue dove inside. His own tongue was clumsy against the larger man’s but he managed to keep up somewhat, trying to kiss back with as much force as Hugo was. Hands were all over his body, moving against his back and slipping up his shirt to play with his nipples. The world felt hot and sloppy and his mind felt overwhelmed even as Hugo moaned against his mouth and reached a hand into his pants. He could feel his stomach turn as drool flowed down his chin like a river and tears threatened to stain his cheeks. He pushed Hugo away.

Harrison doubled over and hurled nothing but liquid onto the dry concrete below the two men. It ran beneath the cracks under his shoes and he couldn’t help but feel disgusting in every sense of the word. He groaned as Hugo reached a hand out to move his hair from his face. His stomach burned, but his head felt a bit clearer.

“Yikes, maybe we really should get you somewhere else. Come on, you could use some rest, I bet.” Hugo’s hand was on Harrison’s again.

“I should go back to my own house..”

“You’re in no condition to drive. I’ll take you. Come on.”

He shook his head. This was starting to sound a bit too familiar for his liking. “I’ll w-walk..” He tried to pull his hand away but Hugo’s grip just tightened.

“Harrison, I’m just trying to help you. Walking alone is dangerous.”

“I can call,” he burped, feeling the need to throw up again, “Alyson..”

“Alyson was drunk too. Just let me take you home.” Harrison was being pulled away despite how firmly he planted his heels into the ground. He whimpered and tried to twist his arm away, his face scrunching up in dislike even as he got further and further from the bar.

“Hugo I don’t want to go with you,” he breathed, feeling his stomach start to turn again. “Call me an uber.”

“Harrison, it’s  _ fine _ . I’m trying to be nice to you,” Hugo growled.

Harrison shifted his weight, falling forward with the force Hugo was pulling him. The big guy stumbled, momentarily letting go of Harrison and giving Harrison the chance to turn away from him. He took one stop before there were arms wrapped around his torso and he was being lifted into the air. The world tilted and the force of Hugo’s shoulder colliding with Harrison’s stomach made him throw up again as he was carried off like a bag of trash.

He groaned weakly, trying to pound against Hugo’s back as the ground swayed beneath him. He felt familiarly useless in the situation. Even as he squirmed and cried out softly for help that he knew wouldn’t come. At least in the original situation, there wasn’t a chance he was about to be brutally murdered. Or maybe there was. He couldn’t remember. Either way, he was crying.

“Hugo, lemme go..” He swung his fist again at the man’s back, another sob ripping from his throat. The punch was useless. “I don’t wanna go with you.”

“I’m just trying to help you,” Hugo replied with a sigh. “We’re going to get you home so you can rest.”

“I. Can. Take. An. Uber!” He accentuated each of his words with another swinging fist. Hugo didn’t even stutter. God he was pathetic. It was so useless.

“Ubers are dangerous.”

“ _ You’re _ dangerous..! I don’t know you!”

“Of course you do. My name is Hugo, and your name is Harrison. What else is there to need to know?”

“My address, since you’re trying to take me home..!”

Hugo chuckled and Harrison could hear the sound of a car being unlocked. Harrison’s struggles renewed but once again to no avail. He sobbed harder. “Please put me down..!” He just felt so useless. Useless! Useless. Uselss useles usseleiss uselesss-

“You heard the guy, put him down,” another voice shouted across the parking lot. Harrison recognized that voice..

Hugo turned to meet the person who was now striding across the parking lot. Harrison could no longer see who it was but he knew. His heart thudded in his chest.

“Who are you?” Hugo asked, sounding somewhat angry.

“I’m a coworker of Harrison’s. With all due respect, it seems like he doesn’t want to go with you right now. If he’s drunk I can take him home instead.”

Hugo scoffed. “You expect me to believe that? You could just be some guy who overheard me calling him Harrison a few seconds ago.”

“Well, I know his name’s Harrison, I know he doesn’t want you to take him anywhere, and I know you have no right to deny his wishes.”

There was a long moment of silence in which Harrison felt restless, exhausted, and sick all at once. He kicked his legs weakly, trying one more time to get free to no avail. He whined. “Jace…”

Hugo straightened up before placing Harrison back down on the ground where he belonged. Harrison turned on his heels and collided with the body behind him, wrapping his arms around the taller form and burying his face in the warm chest. “Jace..” he said again. “Thanks..”

Hugo sighed this time and Harrison could hear him shifting his weight as he stood. “Sorry. I wasn’t trying to upset him like that. I just wanted to get him home safe.”

“Yeah yeah, save it buddy. If you really wanted that you’d have left him with his coworkers. Why don’t you get in your car and leave before the police get here and drive you home personally, alright?”

There was another tense moment of silence before Hugo was walking to his car with heavy footsteps. The door slammed and Jace pulled Harrison away from the car backing out of the parking lot and onto the road. He sighed, placing a hand on Harrison’s head. Harrison tightened his grip around the younger man.

“Thanks, Jace,” he repeated.

“Don’t even. I’d rather sell my soul than see you get kidnapped like that. That guy was shady as fuck.”

Harrison chuckled, pulling his face away and looking up at his employee’s. Jace smiled down at him and he felt his heart speed up again, his face warming to match its pace. Jace really was such a handsome guy. Everything about him felt warm and safe. His smile, his arms, his chest, his eyes.. Harrison raised himself up on the tips of his feet, closing his eyes.

Jace put a hand against Harrison’s lips, pushing him back down to rest on his feet.

“You’re drunk and you smell like barf. If I kissed you, I’d also get drunk and start throwing up,” he chuckled.

Harrison groaned. “Why did you have to ruin the moment..?” His eyes opened again.

“Come on, let’s  _ really _ get you home before you start trying to convince me to jerk you off in a car.”

Harrison hummed as he was led towards a different car in the parking lot. “I wouldn’t be opposed to that. Can you jerk me off in a car?”

“What happened to the Harrison that wanted to maintain professionalism even in private situations?”

“He can’t come to the phone right now, he’s dead. Let’s do dirty things in a car.”

“‘Dirty things’? Okay, now I’m convinced we really need to get you home.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you enjoyed! As always, comments are appreciated.
> 
> I don't have much else to say, just stick around for more chapters coming out soon!
> 
> Anyways it's 2 am and I gotta sleep-
> 
> Thanks so much for reading~!


	9. Bonding

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The night continues to develop as Harrison comes to the slow realization that his relationship with Jace is beginning to take a turn he isn't particularly afraid of it taking.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OH MY GOD it's been months. I am so sorry!! I haven't given up on the story, I just was so plagued with life that I kept procrastinating on it. First I told myself I'd continue it after school finished, then I told myself I'd continue it after I fell back into my work schedule, then I just kept telling myself I'd get to it eventually. I should have updated this sooner, I just suck at everything :(
> 
> But it's finally done! Didn't even take that long. I dunno why I acted like it would take all day. Harrison and Jace are back on their bullshit, this time with a little more warming up to each other and somewhat of a mini confession, but only in Harrison's mind. This is a good chapter!
> 
> I also just want to take the time to say that black lives matter and to stay safe and continue to wear masks and wash your hands. Enjoy the chapter!!

Harrison woke up to the feeling of vibrations echoing through his head every few seconds and giving him a headache. It was constant and had an intensity spike every few seconds, it seemed.

He had the notion that he was sitting on a school bus in high school, on his way home and exhausted after spending 8 hours of his life in a building full of depressed children and neglectful teachers that only cared about shipping him off to college in a few years. He never really had any friends in his classes, except the occasional friendly classmate but it wasn’t like he hung out with any of them after school was over. They had their own lives, after all.

The only person he really talked to anymore was that kid, and even then that was a kind of on and off thing. And then even  _ then _ , it was more like Harrison was babysitting the little guy. Not like the kid’s parents bothered to follow him to the park when he went out, and what was he going to do, sit back and watch while a small child got groomed and then kidnapped? Harrison didn’t even like kids all that much, but he wasn’t a fucking monster.

It wasn’t like he had many other options. It was either go to the park and possibly fall asleep under a slide comfortably or go home and look his parents in the eyes and manage to tell them he was fine without somehow breaking down or punching one of them in the face. Which.. might just be another form of breaking down. But either way, Harrison didn’t  _ want _ to break down. So.. park it was.

The vibrations stopped along with the vehicle he was in. He opened his eyes and peered out of the window he was leaning on, only to be met with a moment of great confusion when instead of his familiar bus stop outside, he saw his regular house, and he wasn’t a teenager, and he wasn’t depressed anymore. He was just a guy in a car.

He must have fallen asleep after getting too drunk at the bar. He barely even remembered the events that transpired in the last hour. The world felt like a fuzzy dream, and he almost wondered if maybe he  _ was _ still a teenager and just was dreaming he was older and more successful. But then that meant he was missing his stop and that was just stressful so he tried not to think about that anymore.

His eyelids fluttered for a moment until he reached up to rub them, feeling groggy and tired. Sleep would be very nice right now..

“You okay, Harrison?” he heard a voice speak up from beside him. He turned to meet Jace’s familiar face of concern, but didn’t have enough energy in his body to give him a similar or different expression in return. “This is your house, right? Do you need help getting inside?”

Harrison thought for a while, then shook his head, straightening up. “Nah, thanks, though. For, um, everything. Even if I… can’t exactly remember what ‘everything’ is…” he almost snorted, shaking his head. He reached for the car door’s handle and opened it, letting chilly night air pour into the car like a sheet of magic being cast over their world. He shivered involuntarily, but stepped out nonetheless.

“Don’t worry about it,” Jace returned, starting the car up again. “Get lots of rest this weekend. You were almost falling asleep in the office again this Thursday.”

Harrison groaned before turning to face him with something akin to a grimace. “Don’t remind me. But yeah, I’ll try..” He paused, biting his lip. “Drive home safe.”

“Thanks, I will.” Jace returned his attention to the wheel in front of him, obviously waiting for Harrison to say goodbye and close his car door so he could leave. But for some reason Harrison was all of a sudden finding it a difficult task to pry his fingers off of said door. He bit his lip again.

Harrison’s hesitation must have lasted a bit longer than he’d expected it to, because then Jace was turning to him again, this time with a look of confusion mixed with worry scattered across his face like the dislodged pieces of a puzzle, and it made Harrison’s stomach churn a bit. He just didn’t know why.

“Is something wrong, Harrison?” Jace finally asked, leaning back in his chair as if preparing to listen to Harrison talk about his entire life story. Which was something Harrison supposed Jace had been waiting for for weeks now, at least. If Harrison’s last visit to Jace’s house is anything to go by. Still haunts his dreams.

“No, not really,” he barely managed to get out. His voice felt soft and uncertain in his throat, but he couldn’t find it in himself to stop talking. Not after he’d just gotten the hang of it. “But do you have to go home now?” That sounded a bit bad. “I mean, it’d be rude of me not to invite you inside for tea or something, right?” That sounded a bit better…

Jace shook his head while his expression went from worried and confused to just bemused, to then just amused. Hey that rhymes!

“Harrison, you’re drunk. You need to get to sleep. It’s late anyways,” was Jace’s reply. He sounded kind of tired, which made Harrison’s heart drop a little, but the hint of amusement was still there, he thought. He just needed to keep talking. Talking would fix everything.

“I’m not that drunk anymore,” he sighed, running a hand through his now messy hair. “I think napping and driving around for a bit got some of it to wear off.” He considered something. “Plus I did throw up a lot, so there’s that too. I’m mostly fine now. Besides, the tea will make me feel even better..!”

Jace was obviously hesitant, stuck in a state between looking at Harrison and looking down at the steering wheel in front of him. Either biting his lip or looking off to the side of both, like he was stuck in between two different worlds and didn’t know which world had the better story line. Harrison couldn’t help but think that obviously his world had the better story line, but he wouldn’t ever say that out loud.

“It’s just to thank you..!” He pursed his lips. “I don’t want you to have to go home empty handed. I cut your night short by being an idiot and now you have to drive all the way home because of me. It’s the least I can do.” More hesitation. Jace just was not buying it. “Please?”

Jace sighed, glancing out of his window one more time before reaching forward to turn off his car properly and undo his seatbelt. “You drive a hard bargain, Mr. Clements,” he commented as he finally opened his door and stepped out of his car. Harrison had to try very  _ very _ hard not to smile.

\--

“They say the foyer is the window to the soul,” Jace whistled, laughing softly once he saw Harrison’s eyes practically rolling into the back of his head while he locked the door behind them.

“No one says that, and it’s not a foyer. Foyers are usually for hotels or theaters, public spaces like that. Get your architecture terminology correct, Mr. Woodrow.” Yet he couldn’t help but laugh too, even just a little bit. “But yes, I guess I do keep my entrance pretty nice and tidy. My house is a lot more open than your  _ maze _ of hallways that you call a home,” he scoffed as he walked past Jace’s newly offended looking face.

“Ya know, I was always looking for a reason to just bring a sledgehammer into my house and go ham. You just gave me that reason, good sir.” Jace followed after him.

It was true that Harrison’s house was a lot more open than Jace’s. A short island separated the living room from the kitchen, and the only hallways that existed were leading off to the bedrooms and bathrooms that the house consisted of. It was quite nice, really. Or at least Harrison would like to think so. He tried to keep it tidy when he could, which was basically every day because Harrison barely did much, but he didn’t know if he had much of what he’d consider to be decor in his house. It just was a house.. Nothing too special.

Not at all like Jace’s house. Not just in that Jace’s house was hallway central while Harrison’s house was an open heaven, but also that Jace’s house had plenty of sentimental memorabilia from when Jace lived with his parents, probably. It had pictures on the walls and dressers, and little trinkets that looked like they’d been made by a child in pottery class and colored on with crayons. Jace’s house actually looked like a home. Harrison’s house was just that. A house. Harrison was kinda boring, huh?

“I’m surprised you haven’t snapped by now, actually,” Harrison replied, dropping onto his couch and immediately feeling the weight of a thousand suns resting over various parts of his body. “I would have taken a sledgehammer to your walls ages ago. It’s like being in a  _ prison _ . What made you think that buying it would be fun?”

Jace shrugged as he plopped into the space beside Harrison’s with a smile. Harrison felt himself bounce just from the sheer force that the man managed to exert just by existing near him. Once again he felt like a child.

“I was more worried about price than anything. You might be paying hundreds of dollars a month for this beautiful looking house you live in, but I am  _ also _ paying hundreds a month for my shitty little hobble.” He smirked.

Harrison frowned. “How is that any better?”

“I was an idiot when I bought my house.” This made Harrison snort. “I was fresh out of college, looking for some sort of deal. My parents were too preoccupied helping my little sister deal with our sister’s death, so I understood that they couldn’t really help me move out. I had to do it on my own and ended up with a shitty mortgage for a shitty house. Ahh, good times.”

They were silent for a while longer as Harrison thought for himself for a bit. The air in the room hadn’t shifted, although he couldn’t quite feel it. He just felt as though somehow things had been made awkward. It was probably his own fault somehow but he just couldn’t figure it out. Couldn’t figure anything out.. His mind was running and he didn’t know how to stop it. But he was also still kinda drunk from earlier, so he decided to just let his mind run.

“How long ago did your sister die?” Ohhh god he should have kept his mouth shut. Fuck kinda question was that, Harrison?! Jace was trying to be chill about his sister’s death and then he just asks for his fucking sob story outta nowhere? Alcohol is not a good look on you, Harrison Clements. He just grimaced.

Jace’s expression fell as the air in the room really  _ did _ shift then. Once again, way to go Harrison. Such a fucking charmer, that one.

“Ah,” Jace responded quietly, seemingly unsure of what to say next. “Just a few years ago, actually. It was while she and Gretel were in high school, I was still in college at the time. My little sister just… took a bit longer to start getting over it..”

“Oh, I’m so sorry,” Harrison said, but for what he was sorry for, he wasn’t really sure. Sorry Jace had to go through that? Sorry it happened such a short time ago? Sorry he even fucking pried in the first place like a fucking drunk idiot? Sorry for all of those things, really. And then some. Harrison was just fucking sorry. “I didn’t mean to open up that wound, Jace.”

There was another moment of silence, but then Jace was plastering a smile on his face and shaking his head, turning to face Harrison with some kind of expression of content.

“No, it’s fine. I came to terms with it a long time ago, I think. I still think about her sometimes, but usually I’m remembering all the fun we had together, not the sad stuff that happened after she died.”

“Are your parents doing okay with it?” Man he really  _ didn’t _ know how to stop talking.

“Oh yeah! They’re doing better now than they were before. Things certainly weren’t.. the same at home after her death, but it’d be unfair to say that my family is still a mess after all these years. We’ve grown and come to accept it.” He trailed off, staring into space while his smile faltered. But then a split second later he was right back to being himself. “Sometimes Gretel has her moments but she’s always quick to come back from it. She’s a strong kid,” he chuckled.

“Wow, again, I’m sorry your family had to go through that.” And a multitude of other things Harrison was sorry for.

“Harrison it’s fiiine. People die. We’ll always miss her and she’ll be in our memories until the end of time, but as they say, she’s in a better place.”

Harrison pursed his lips. “I didn’t know you were religious.”

“No no, not heaven, I meant that her soul is probably haunting a skate park somewhere and she’s living her best afterlife.” He laughed again, stronger and deeper this time. Harrison could feel Jace’s sudden happy mood electrify the air around the two men, making his own mouth turn upwards in a sort of smile that didn’t want to admit it was a smile.

Harrison didn’t want to laugh, but then his shoulders were shaking with the force of holding it back. Which in turn made Jace laugh even harder once he got a glance of Harrison’s idiotic face trying to hold back laughter, and soon they were both laughing hard. It was the special kind of laughter then, the kind that bursts from deep within your soul despite your efforts to stop it, and invades your mind and body as all you can feel is complete giddiness for seemingly no reason at all. The kind of laughter that makes your stomach hurt and your eyes water, and the more you think about why you’re laughing and how stupid the reason is, the more you continue to laugh and perpetuate the cycle of pain and joy.

The two men sat side by side on the older man’s couch, jostling in their seats with the force of their own chortling laughter and occasionally holding their stomachs or kicking their legs out from under them when the activity became too much for them. Harrison felt the need to drop to the floor and roll around like a high school girl at the funniest sleepover party she’d ever been to, but instead decided the next best thing would be to lean onto Jace’s shoulder for support while his body went slack with sheer exertion. He didn’t know why he decided that was better than rolling on the floor, it was hard to decide much when the only thing that was replaying over and over in his head was “living her best afterlife” in a way that made his body convulse with renewed laughter every time the phrase was finished repeating itself.

This torturous cycle seemed to last all of half an hour, but was probably only really two minutes or so, until the two finally quieted down and relaxed, panting and occasionally chuckling with renewed efforts to find the funny in the statement that wasn’t even meant to be a joke.

“I haven’t laughed like that in a while,” Harrison sighed, still occasionally holding back fits of snickers to keep himself from going insane. “That wasn’t even that funny, I just think I might have the mind of a child.”

“How dare you, that was  _ hilarious _ .” Jace nudged Harrison’s side and looked down at him with a giddy smile. “If Hansa were here, she’d have flipped over a table from laughing so hard. Which is another funny story, actually!”

The mention of Jace’s dead sister’s name made Harrison’s stomach flip, like the table from Jace’s weird story probably, and the laughter leave his body. Making him feel oddly empty inside in a way that he couldn’t quite describe. He put a hand on Jace’s shoulder, leaning himself off of his employee with some effort, and looked into his eyes with an expression of concern.

“Jace, I know you said you’ve moved past your sister’s death, but is it still okay to make jokes about it?”

Jace maintained eye contact with him for a long while before his smile finally began to falter. “What do you mean? The grief is all gone from my body, long gone. Went through the five stages and everything. Years ago. Why would it not be okay to talk about it?”

“Well.. it just seems like a weird topic to joke about,” Harrison admitted, fully pushing off of him and managing to upright himself after resting all of his weight onto the younger man. He really did need to work out more sometimes. “Like, I get that it happened years ago, but it’s still someone’s death.”

Jace just.. Shrugged. “Hansa would have wanted us to be able to joke about it one day. She was never the type to even want a funeral. Always made jokes about turning her funeral into a party instead of a mourning. We didn’t go through with that, obviously, because she was just a kid when she made those jokes. But that doesn’t mean we’d disrespect her wishes by dedicating the rest of our lives to mourning her and her memory.” He paused. “Harrison, I’ve chosen to move past it. I don’t want to be sad thinking about someone I loved and cared about deeply for the rest of my life.”

Harrison looked down. “Yeah, I guess you’re right.” He didn’t even know what he was thinking saying that to Jace. What was Jace going to do? Apologize and then go back to talking about how sad he was when his sister passed away and how hard it was dealing with it. Moving on was.. natural. And some people used humor to cope. Jace, always smiling and cheerful, always dependable and amusing, of course he’d be the type of person to use humor in this type of situation. Harrison felt like a childish idiot.

“I’m sorry,” he repeated, feeling all of a sudden like he wanted to kick Jace out of his house and curl up under his sheets until he stopped thinking.

He felt a hand on his cheek and almost jumped out of his skin as he looked up to meet Jace’s smile from before, except this version of it was a lot more reassuring and gentle than the one he’d had on previously.

“Harrison, you’re still drunk.”

Harrison groaned, slapping his hand away. “Can’t a guy apologize for being an idiot without being convicted of being drunk?” he scoffed. He made a move to stand up, pushing all of his weight off of the couch and teetering precariously on the balls of his feet. “I just hate that fucking smile sometimes, is all. It makes me do stupid things.”

“You hate my smile?”

Harrison froze. That line hadn’t meant to be put into quotes. God he was just fucking LOSING IT wasn’t he?? Maybe he was drunk. But that didn’t give him the right to just hurt Jace’s feelings like a fucking asshole. God he hated himself. Maybe Jace had been right to treat him like a kid who didn’t know any better. But that didn’t mean he’d admit it. As we all know, Harrison fucking hates admitting things.

He turned to face Jace, not really knowing what to do with his arms and deciding to put them against his hips along with a look of indignation he slapped onto his face at the last second. It almost matched, to Harrison’s surprise, Jace’s look of playful anger that he wore. Maybe he hadn’t hurt his feelings after all.

“Well,” he didn’t quite know where to start, “it’s not that I  _ hate _ . Your smile. It’s just.. always fucking there..!” That sounded about right. “It’s like you never have any other emotion other than the basic ‘happy’ or ‘sad’ or even occasionally a little ‘angry’ but even then the angry is mixed with the happy or sad emotion. You never show me any other emotions, Woodrow. Those complex emotions, that science claims to have found. Where’s your confuzzlement? Your doubt or raw  _ horror _ .” He raised a hand up in defeat. “Hell, at this point I’d even go for pity! Something other than fucking  _ happy _ . I beg of you.”

Jace sighed, standing up to tower over Harrison. “Why do you even care so much?” he  _ chuckled _ . Because of course he was fucking amused. Everything amused him. Even his sister’s death, apparently!

Thank goodness  _ that _ line wasn’t in quotes.

“For your information,” Harrison pointed out, pointing an accusing finger at Jace’s chest. “I  _ don’t _ care. You can tell that by the look on my face. Because my mood can actually change from being happy to being something else that allows you to tell what emotion is going on inside my head.”

“Funny you should say that, because during the work day it seems like the only emotion you ever have is grumpiness and sadness.”

He frowned. “What I do during the work day has nothing to do with who I am now. Workplace Harrison and home Harrison are two different men who happen to fuck with the same body.” He paused again. “And I’m also still kinda drunk, and drunk Harrison has been told to be an idiot from time to time.”

“So you admit it! I guess that’s my cue to leave.”

Harrison grabbed Jace’s arm. “Don’t you  _ dare _ leave. We’re almost to the bottom of this emotions predicament that you have. I know they’re in there somewhere and we can pull them out of you. Let’s start with something easy. Show me annoyance.”

Jace rolled his eyes, then smiled.

“I said show me annoyance.”

Jace’s smile stiffened.

“.. I guess so. Show me.. Anger.”

Jace pursed his lips into his smile.

“... Kinda the same as annoyance. Show me confusion.”

Jace’s eyebrows furrowed along with his smile.

“Are you playing me for a fool right now?”

“Depends, are you playing along?”

“I don’t play.” Harrison reached up to pull at the corners of Jace’s mouth, pulling them down into a frown. His fingers were damp once he pulled them away and placed them back on Jace’s arms. “I tell things like they are.”

“I don’t doubt you. But it’s a shame, really. Playing is oh so fun.” Jace’s head tilted, although the frown didn’t leave his face.

“So you have other emotions after all. What’s this one, sadness?”

Jace hummed. “Disappointment.”

“Here’s a challenge.” Harrison reached up, tugging at Jace’s tie with increasing pressure until his employee’s back was bent and they were finally face to face. Jace almost looked confused, but the emotion was easily masked by a look of intrigue and amusement. Harrison had to hold himself back from.. something.

“Show me,” he paused, “passion.”

Jace was silent.

“Harrison you’re drunk.”

“I’m not drunk!”

Jace’s next words were cut off with the sudden presence of Harrison’s mouth against his. Their lips clashed together and were stiff with surprise, but only for a few seconds until suddenly they were devouring each other's mouths with an intense hunger that seemed to appear from almost nowhere but that was quickly clouding Harrison’s mind like he was downing another full cup of alcohol. Harrison tugged more forcefully at Jace’s tie until the younger man put a hand on Harrison’s hips and pulled him closer.

Harrison hadn’t really kissed men much in his life. He couldn’t account for the things blackout drunk Harrison had done, as he really was just a different person when he was drunk, but as far as he was aware, he’d only really kissed and slept with women in his lifetime. He wasn’t sure if the experience would be different or if he’d dislike it, as he never really thought of himself as gay.

But kissing Jace felt like… something else to Harrison. It wasn’t like he was kissing a man, it was like he was kissing  _ this _ man. And god, did he love every second of it. Something about the way Jace’s lips moved against his and the way his hands gripped hungrily at Harrison’s hips set Harrison’s mind on fire and lit tingles throughout his small frame. It wasn’t often that someone managed to make Harrison feel like a teenage girl kissing her high school crush, but they happened to be some of his favorite times. And then they pulled away.

Harrison hadn’t noticed his heart beat had picked up until he started finding it hard to catch his breath once their lips had separated. His mouth felt tingly and wet, prompting him to lick them to try to get some feeling back into them.

Jace snickered, straightening up. “Enjoy it that much?”

“Shut up,” Harrison snapped, but he couldn’t really find any anger behind the statement. He was on cloud nine, as they say.

“Well, you got what you wanted, drunk Harrison. Or is this just at home Harrison? Which Harrison am I talking to again?”

Harrison shrugged, “the idiot Harrison.”

“Right. Is that all the idiot Harrison wanted? Is that all the passion he was looking for? Caaause it’s still quite late. And I’m starting to believe that tea isn’t happening after all.”

“Do you have anywhere to be in the morning?” Harrison leaned back against his couch’s arm.

“Depends,” Jace mused, “what’s your reaction if I were to say no?”

Harrison held onto Jace’s arm and began leading him down an adjacent hallway towards his room. Jace had no complaints and nothing else to say, so he let himself get excited, if only just a little. It wasn’t as if he’d been planning to get Jace alone in his room for long, or maybe he had been. It was so hard to tell what he wanted from him these days. But now that he was faced with the prospect of said things happening, his heart was again starting to pound in his chest and his blood was rushing in his ears like a train thundering through his mind. So maybe it was more than just a little bit excited.

He opened the door to his room and flipped on the light switch, leading Jace inside. Jace whistled low. “Your house never ceases to impress me.”

“Yeah well I didn’t get it straight out of college like you did.” He let go of Jace’s arm and closed the door behind them. He stared at the door for a while, not quite sure if what was happening was actually real. He was almost afraid of turning around and not seeing Jace there, having hallucinated the past twenty minutes because of how hopelessly drunk he still felt he was. But there was no way he was still this drunk after such a long time, right? Maybe they should have had the tea after all..

“Harrison?” Jace laid a hand gently on Harrison’s shoulder. Harrison sucked in a breath. He wasn’t going crazy.

He turned to face his employee and gave him a reassuring smile, then gestured towards his bed. “You gonna lay down or something?”

Jace hesitated. “Are we doing to have sex?”

“Aren’t we..?” Harrison trailed off. Did Jace not want Harrison the way Harrison wanted Jace after all?

“Well, I mean we can..” Jace trailed off too. Guess both of them were feeling pretty nervous.

“I’m sensing a ‘but’ here.”

“But..”

Harrison waited, searching Jace’s face for any telltale sign that he was actually uncomfortable and had thought Harrison was just joking. That he hadn’t meant to give Harrison mixed signals, and that he actually  _ did _ want to go home and pretend that everything that’d happened the past two weeks had just been a joke. Harrison told himself he wouldn’t be surprised or disappointed if that happened, he’d just let Jace go home. But even thinking about it almost made tears prick his eyes.

But instead of telling Harrison any of those things, Jace’s face just seemed to light up in embarrassment. Harrison thought it was kinda cute.

“Buuuut?” he prompted, trying to get his employee to start talking again.

“But..” he paused. “I’m not vanilla.”

Harrison blinked.

“I have no idea what that means.”

Jace sighed. “I don’t like vanilla sex. Er, I guess.. I don’t like  _ just _ sex.”

“I still have no idea what that means,” Harrison blinked again.

Jace sighed heavier this time and searched the air around him for the words he was trying to say. “Right, so you know how we work at a bdsm toy company?”

“Yeah. You’re into bdsm?”

“Yes!” His face lit up, then stiffened. “But like.. all the time. It’s not a hobby or anything, I just like sex that way.”

“Oh,” Harrison responded, but in reality he still had no idea what Jace was talking about. Could someone even be like that? Only liking sex a certain way? Wouldn’t that get boring? “Okay… So…”

“So..” Jace continued, “do you have any.. Ya know… bdsm toys here?”

Harrison stared at him, his face and mind blank. He had no idea how to tell Jace that he didn’t have any bdsm toys whatsoever. Except the vibrator… but that wasn’t a bdsm thing, it was just a thing. He didn’t have nearly the amount of bdsm toys that Jace had stashed in that box in his closet. Which was starting to make more sense, the more Harrison thought about it. If someone who didn’t like regular sex were to keep sex pleasurable, they’d need as many toys as possible, right? Right? That made.. Sense..?

“I have.. a vibrator, I guess.”

Jace paused. “Is that it? I mean, I can work with that.”

“I just don’t understand why we can’t have regular sex,” Harrison crossed his arms.

“It’s not that we can’t. I just… would feel more comfortable with it if it were bdsm. It’s not that I haven’t had sex before. I’ve had vanilla sex-”

“Is it called that because vanilla is classified as a boring flavor? I happen to like vanilla.” Jace just ruffled Harrison’s hair, infuriatingly enough.

“I’ve had vanilla sex. But I’ve also gotten bdsm involved with it. And between the two kinds, I’ve gotta say. Vanilla is… quite boring.”

“Well I dunno what to tell you. I don’t have any ropes or chains or whips or anything weird like that.”

“No no, I can work with just a vibrator.”

“But how? Doesn’t bdsm stand for, like.. bondage and… sadism or something? Where do we get the bondage and sadism?”

Jace pursed his lips, looking up and down Harrison for a while before letting his lips fall into a smile. “Ropes aren’t the only thing you can tie around body parts, Harrison.”

\--

“Is this too tight?”

“Ya know, I appreciate the fact that you’ve been checking to see if I’m comfortable every two seconds. But I don’t appreciate that it’s every two seconds.”

“Sorry. Just that you said they shouldn’t leave bruises this time-”

“It’s fine, Jace.”

Jace let out a breath of relief and tightened the knot a little bit around Harrison’s hands. “Is this too-”

“No. Jace. It’s not too tight,” Harrison almost groaned. Jace finally let it go and moved his hands from fumbling with the tie he’d wrapped around Harrison’s wrists that were resting against his back as the younger man laid face down with his knees under his hips.

He rested his face against his pillow and tried to relax into the various articles of clothing keeping his limbs in place. As Jace had undressed him, he’d used each piece of his clothing to bind Harrison as much as possible. His pants and jacket were around his legs, keeping his knees pressed to his calves, tie was around his wrists, and his shirt was keeping the tie at his hands tied to his pants and jacket at his legs. In short, he could barely move a muscle and all he had on left was his boxer briefs. It didn’t feel uncomfortable, though. Just… new…

“Does anything hurt?”

“I’m fine, Jace.” Harrison felt Jace shift behind him, then felt a shadow engulf him as Jace leaned over him to look down into his eyes with a smile.

“Just checking.”

Harrison hummed in place of a nod. “How are we going to have sex if my underwear is still on?”

Jace bit his lip. “Don’t be mad at me, but I’m not going to have sex with you.” Harrison’s jaw would have dropped if it wasn’t pressed against the softness of his pillow. “I just want to play for a while, if I’m being honest. We can have sex any other time, right?”

“I feel so used,” Harrison added.

“No no no! I want to have sex with you, I swear. But maybe, like.. when you’re not so drunk.”

“I’m not drunk!”

Harrison was sort of expecting Jace to smile and laugh then, as he usually did when Harrison had an outburst like that. Instead he watched closely as Jace’s face changed from the pleasant smile that he seemed to wear on his face during 99% of the hours of the day, to the half lidded, mischievous smirk that he’d seen Jace show him the other time at his house. It was like Jace had two different people in his body too. One that he would show in public, and one he’d show in private.

It was then that Harrison realized that the phrase “gentleman in the streets, freak in the sheets” wasn’t as stupid and nonsensical as it sounded.

“Harrison, we both know that you have at least a little bit of alcohol in your system still,” Jace pulled away and Harrison could feel the light from his room pour over his body again.

“But I’m not dr- OW!” Harrison paused. “Did you just.. slap me??” Harrison’s cheek still tingled a bit from where Jace had just brought down his palm with the swift force of a parent beating a toddler for taking something that wasn’t theirs.

“No,” Jace answered. “I spanked you. There’s a difference.”

Oh, so Jace was just admitting now that he did in fact see Harrison as a child. Just as Harrison loved to hear.

He grimaced. “It hurt.”

“Well, that’s what happens when you do bad things.”

“I didn’t do anything b- OW. Stop doing that!”

“Well stop arguing with me.”

“I’m not arg- OW!” It was at this point that Harrison chose to purse his lips together and not give Jace a reason to “spank” him again.

Jace put his hand on Harrison’s ass again, but this time it was more of a pet than it was a slap. “Good. See, you’re learning.”

Harrison’s eyebrows furrowed as he felt Jace get off of the bed. “I don’t like being looked down upon. Especially by a guy who’s 15 years younger than me.”

“15? How old are you..??”

“I’m 35.”

Jace paused. “Harrison I’m 24.”

This time it was Harrison’s turn to pause.

“Especially by a guy who’s 11 years younger than me.”

Jace snorted. “Well I’m only looking down on you as a part of roleplay. It’s not how I really see you.” He felt Jace crawl onto the bed again.

“Roleplay? That sounds not fun.”

“It’s only a light roleplay. Just to make this easier for me. All you have to do is follow my orders.” He leaned over Harrison again. “Think you can do that?”

Harrison thought for a while, then tried to shrug. But it was kind of hard with his hands basically tied to his legs. “I guess so..” Then he remembered something. “What’s the safe word?”

“Oh! You’re completely right, I should have thought of that already. What do you want it to be?”

“What can it be?”

“Something you wouldn’t usually say but that isn’t too hard to say. Other than that, it can be anything.”

Harrison hummed, shifting slightly under Jace’s gaze. All of a sudden, all the words in the world escaped him in a miraculous effort to think of literally any word at all. His eyes darted around the room, trying to think of anything. Anything at all. Hoping that the items would give him a clue. Like… lamp.. or dresser. But all of those sounded so weird to him. Like something he wouldn’t want to be saying in the middle of sex. Or play, or roleplay, or whatever weird thing Jace was making them to. He curled his fingers into his palms, his fingernails brushing against the tie keeping his wrists together.

“Ten seconds on the clock, Harrison,” Jace said softly, playfully. Which only made Harrison freak out more.

“Tie.” He blurted out.

Jace snorted, “Tie?”

“Yeah. Like… i-it’s a tie..?” he tried to reason stupidly. But no matter what, it made just as little sense as saying lamp or some shit.

“It’s a tie.” Jace repeated. “I like it. It’s quick, and not something you’d usually say during sex. It works well. Good job.”

“Thanks.”

“Now, would you like to hear the rules?”

“Are we playing a game?”

“Yes, now you get it.” Harrison rolled his eyes. “Rule number one, don’t call me Jace. You’ll call me sir. Any time you call me Jace, you get punished.”

Harrison winced. “I don’t know if I can do that.”

“You’ll get used to it with time. It stops being weird once you relax into it.”

“Okay,” he sighed.

“Rule number two, you listen to what I tell you. If I tell you to do something and you don’t do it, you get punished. If I tell you to do something hard and you manage to do it, you get rewarded. It’s a simple system.”

“I guess so.”

“Good. Rule number three, any time you feel uncomfortable or don’t think you can do something but don’t want to get punished from it, just say ‘tie’, the word you came up with. In the case you do say tie, I’ll stop and ask you what’s wrong. You can then choose to request for me to change something about what we’re doing, tell me you don’t want to do a particular thing, or ask to stop the activity altogether. It won’t make me angry or uncomfortable, so don’t hold back in asking to stop because you don’t want to bother me. This is supposed to be pleasurable for both of us.”

“Wow, you really thought these rules through while making them up.”

Jace let out a soft laugh through his nose. “You’re not the first person I’ve applied these rules to.”

Wow, that wasn’t going to make Harrison feel insecure for the rest of the night at all.

“That being said, though, any time you don’t say tie, I get free reign of punishing or rewarding you. That also means that you saying no or being snappy won’t be something I take seriously or personally. Especially since I get the feeling that you’re something of a brat.”

“Am I supposed to feel offended?”

“No, I like brats.”

He furrowed his eyebrows. “I’m not a brat.”

“We’ll see about that. Rule number four. Trying to get out of your binds or a punishment without telling me “tie” will also result in a harsher punishment. So twisting your body out of the way of being spanked will just earn you a harder spank or something else of that caliber.”

“Perfect. That sounds great. I’m so excited for this.”

He felt Jace’s hand come down hard on his ass again but managed to bite his lip before he could make a sound of pain. “Your sarcasm is enjoyed, but will not be tolerated.”

This time Harrison couldn’t help but laugh, if only just a little. “This is so weiiiird. I can’t believe I’m willingly doing this. With you of all people.”

“If you don’t want to, we can stop.” There was silence for a moment as Harrison considered. “We don’t have to do it. I can untie you and we can have that tea and then maybe do something else until either you throw me out of your house or I fall asleep on your couch. I’m not going to force you this time.” Harrison was still silent.

He felt Jace lean down and lay a soft kiss on the back of his neck, which sent a shiver down his spine. “I’m not going to force you to do anything again. I’m sorry. If you want to stop now, or if you want to stop at any time, just tell me. I promise. I’m not going to hurt you.”

It wasn’t so much the promise of being forced, though, that put Harrison on edge. He couldn’t stop thinking about how if he let Jace go through with this, there wouldn’t be any turning back. There could never be a time where he’d be able to look at Jace and not remember this moment, not remember what they did together. And if he enjoyed it, what if he wanted it again? And again? What if that became their relationship?

It was already wrong to be sleeping with a coworker, let alone an employee. But this wasn’t just sleeping with him. Harrison wouldn’t be able to let this night go, he could tell. He would have to give up the regular relationship he had with his employee. And if someone knew about it… 

He was taking a risk, he knew that.

But he also knew he didn’t want to, couldn’t turn back now. He was too excited, too eager. And he trusted Jace too much.

“I trust you,” he breathed, then gulped. “Let’s do it.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hue hue hue, can you tell that things will be heating up next chapter? Gotta love me some gay sex. And hey! Cute feelings are okay too. Harrison definitely has them, he's just keeping them hidden for now because he's a literal child and doesn't know how to deal with himself. But that's okay! Not everyone can grow up and be sophisticated.
> 
> As always, comments are highly appreciated, and thanks so much for the support that this story has been getting! Way better than my Wattpad days when I'd be getting five views per chapter and two comments talking about something useless that has nothing to do with the story. Gotta love this platform!
> 
> Thanks so much for reading and I'll see you next chapter!


	10. Obey me, Sir

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jace and Harrison have a bit of fun in Harrison's bed, then come to a conclusion that changes everything.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I finally did iiiiit! *celebration music plays way too loudly*
> 
> I wrote the next chapter of this god forsaken story! Let's fucking gooooo we're poppIN OFF BABY-
> 
> Anyways enjoy!

Harrison could feel Jace shift around on the bed behind him, each movement making a different part of his body tingle with anticipation. Well, it was either that or the feeling leaving various inches of his limbs due to being tied up for an extended period of time. It had taken quite a while for Harrison to contort himself into his current position and be tied up… Maybe he should’ve been worried about losing all feeling in his limbs. But it was hard to be worried about anything when the constant threat of where Jace’s next touch would be set his whole body aflame with a feeling he couldn’t quite describe.

It wasn’t that he hated it, though. On the contrary. Harrison was starting to enjoy himself more than he’d admit to. Which in turn just made him feel more excited. Until he was a vibrating, anticipating, numb mess coiled up on the bed in front of his employee. Demeaning, maybe. But Harrison wasn’t thinking of it that way.

It almost startled him when he heard Jace’s voice from the occupied space behind him.

“How are you feeling, Harrison?”

Harrison almost shrugged. “Fine…”

He felt another sharp smack place itself on his cheek and he hissed in pain.

“Fine, what?” Jace almost purred.

“Fine..” Harrison gulped. “Sir.”

Jace cooed, rubbing soothing circles into the spot he hit, “Good boy.” He then placed his other hand on Harrison’s other cheek where he began to mirror the circling motion. It made Harrison feel weird… but not bad, per se.

Nevertheless, he grimaced as he tried to move his hips away from Jace’s cursed touch. “I don’t like being treated like a child.” He finally said.

“I’m not treating you like a child,” Jace mused, though, making Harrison roll his eyes harder than he thought he ever could before. “I’m treating you like a good boy. Which you are.”

“So what, not a child but a dog?” he couldn’t help but say, which just earned him another hard smack to his cheek. He really should learn to keep his mouth shut.

“Harrison, shush.”

“Sorry. Sir.” he backtracked. Maybe this would be a long night.

Harrison almost jolted five feet off of the bed when he felt Jace’s hand suddenly place itself on his crotch. Not that he wasn’t expecting it, but it felt even weirder the second time. Jace must have noticed Harrison’s apprehension, though, because he then asked, “Are you doing okay?”

At this point, Harrison felt like growling. “Yes, Jace. I promise, I’m okay.”

Another smack. He could feel tears begin to prick at his eyes.

“I mean yes sir.” He hadn’t noticed before, but all this sudden pain was making his breathing a lot heavier than it was before. Or maybe it was because of the hand pressing down on his increasingly hardening dick, either way his breath was beginning to come out in long puffs. He pressed his face into the pillow in embarrassment.

“Good boy. I’m glad you’re feeling okay.” Jace then paused, shifting a bit more. “Do you want me to move my hand?”

“No sir.” He was kind of getting the hang of submission, he guessed. It definitely didn’t feel as weird now as it did before, at least.

Jace hummed. “What do you want then, Harrison?”

He bit his lip, not sure how to process his own wants in his head, let alone say them aloud.

“Um.. touch me? Sir?”

“I am touching you,” Jace chuckled. Oh so it was one of those kinds of games. Harrison hated those kinds of games.

“Can you… rub me sir?” He cringed at his own word, but practically keened when Jace obeyed, rubbing his palm along the length he could feel from beneath Harrison’s underwear. Harrison was starting to feel like he should have gotten that last item of clothing removed as his mind started to slowly shift from normal to an aroused state. To the point where he had no qualms about saying, “Faster.”

Jace clicked his tongue, slowing down. “That’s not a very nice way to ask.”

Harrison almost growled in response, “Why don’t you just give me what I want?”

“Well because you don’t deserve it.” Jace moved his hand entirely with the click of his tongue, leading a high pitched whine to rise in Harrison’s throat. “Didn’t I say bad boys deserve punishments? Only good boys get rewarded.”

Had he actually said that? Harrison was having trouble remembering. But that didn’t tarnish his resolve, he only scoffed. “How do you expect me to be a good boy if you don’t give me good boy things?”

“I don’t think that’s how discipline works, Harrison.”

“Then don’t discipline me,  _ sir _ .”

Jace was silent at this, leading Harrison to believe that for once in his life he’d caught the man off guard and not the other way around. He didn’t have time to feel proud of this achievement, though, as his pride was quickly snuffed out with the sound of soft chuckles coming from the space behind and above him.

“See, you are a brat,” Jace cooed.

“Stop treating me like a little kid!” Harrison retorted, bucking sharply in his binds and suddenly wanting to kick Jace out of his room and go to bed trying to forget tonight had even started to happen.

“I’m sorry!” Jace replied softly, putting a hand back on Harrison’s back. “Fine, if you want to be proven that good boys get good things, I’ll give you what you want. But don’t assume that means you can act bad. We’ll do it B.F. Skinner style, a bit of negative punishment when you don’t do as I say. Make sense?”

“I don’t know who that is or what that is,” Harrison mumbled in response.

Jace chuckled. “It means I’ll give you something good, and while you act good you get to keep the good thing. Once you act bad, the good thing is taken away.”

Harrison rolled the words around in his finally cleared head, then nodded slowly. “Okay, I think I understand…”

“Good! Now… Let’s try again.” The feeling of his hand on Harrison’s crotch resumed. “Say it nicely, and maybe you’ll get what you want, okay?”

Harrison felt the need to whine, but didn’t feel like giving him the satisfaction. However, he did then say, “Faster, please. Sir.”

“That’s more like it.” Jace hummed in satisfaction as he obeyed Harrison’s words. Harrison let out a sigh, finally relaxing into his touch as his mind began to chase itself after an orgasm that was miles away. There was no way Harrison would be able to cum like this. It’d take at least an hour. And he wasn’t sure he could stand to be tied up like this for that long.

Harrison fought the urge to shift his body again, instead turning his head to the side and attempting to glance back at his employee. Jace’s eyes weren’t on his, instead trained in on Harrison’s ass with a sort of hungry look hidden behind his pupils. It made another shudder run down Harrison’s spine, mixed with a sort of satisfaction at getting the expression to appear on Jace’s face. The older man had never considered he’d be able to make someone want him before. If that was even the feeling that could be described on Jace’s face.. But he could assume that at least, right? Jace.. wanted him? That was why he touched him.. That was why he made him feel good…

His mind was starting to wander back to the feeling ever so slowly pooling into his stomach. Like thick honey trapped within an hourglass. He’d never experienced slow pleasure like this before Jace. Jace was introducing him to lots of things, it seemed…

He took in another deep breath as he attempted to angle his hips down into Jace’s palm more. He needed more. This would take forever.

Jace moved his hand back in response, placing his other hand back onto Harrison’s hip. “Do you want more?” he asked, as if it wasn’t obvious.

Harrison nodded. Then, upon receiving no response to his nod, said, “Yes sir.”

“Well you have to ask for it,” the employee continued simply, as if he had no problems with waiting for Harrison to come after an hour. This earned him a soft whimper from the older man as he tried once more to rock his hips into the touch, despite the way Jace was so obviously continuing to keep his palm just far enough that it couldn’t truly give Harrison the orgasm seeking pleasure he needed.

Harrison felt a growl release from within his throat. “This isn’t fun if it takes all night,” he replied harshly. He opened his mouth to say more, then, only to feel a hand plant itself within his hair and tug harshly, forcing something akin to a squeak to fall past his lips.

Before he realized it, Jace’s mouth was beside his ear, whispering to him. “Oh really,” his voice said, the whisper harsh and prickly against Harrison’s skin, “you seem to actually be having quite a bit of fun, Mr. Clements.” The hand on his crotch pressed harder into his skin, pulling a surprising moan out from deep inside of him as his legs tried to close in instinct.

“N-no,” he bit his lip, trying and failing to keep himself from saying more. “I want.. more..”

“You do?” Jace practically purred, moving the hand away and making Harrison curse at him inside his own head. “Then why don’t you ask for it like a good boy?”

Harrison was about to protest again, but Jace’s words rang in his head. He had to be.. a good boy.. or else it would be taken away again.

“Please.. Sir,” he gritted from between his teeth, relaxing as the hand in his hair finally let go and moved from its perch.

“Please what, Harrison?”

“Please. Give me more.”

Jace hummed in response, almost sounding not too happy about the way Harrison asked. “Fine. Not perfect, but you’re getting there,” he said, confirming Harrison’s thoughts. However, he then moved his hand away from the man, making Harrison whine once more. “There there, I’m just getting something, don’t worry.”

Part of Harrison hated how needy he sounded, but that part of him was quickly drowned out with the excitement and anticipation that the other parts of him were experiencing. He had an inkling he knew what was going to happen next.

Sure enough, he heard the familiar click and buzz of his new favorite toy sparking to life. He almost jolted, then melted as the feeling of the vibrator pressed against his dick began to seep pleasure into his bones.

He let a deep moan roll off of his tongue as he buried his face deeper into the pillow pressed against his cheek.

“What do we say, Harrison?” Jace cooed.

“Thank you, sir.” He barely hesitated that time. Hard to hesitate when half of your brain had turned into mush. Jace showed his appreciation in the way he slowly ran the toy up and down the length of his straining cock. He let out another moan and began to rock his hips into the touch as much as he could in his position. It wasn’t much different from the initial rubbing, but it was enough to start bringing him closer to his peak.

“You’re doing well now, Mr. Clements.”

Harrison let his tongue loll around the drool pooling in his mouth and swallowed before he finally answered with, “thank you, sir.”

“Is that all you have to say?” He could hear the smirk in his employee’s voice but was too out of it to reprimand him for it or anything. If anything, it made the moment better, at least in his opinion.

However, he wasn’t sure how to respond, so he just stayed quiet and let the pleasure wash over him in waves. Hopefully he wouldn’t press further, but his wishes were unmet as he felt the vibrator inch ever so slightly away from where he wanted it to be. He heard himself whine.

“Harrison? Is that all you have to say?”

“Yes,” he said shortly, pressing his hips back down into the younger man’s touch.

He felt another sharp smack on his cheek and yelped in earnest.

“What did I do that time?” he asked, only feeling confused, betrayed, and somehow still extremely turned on. Jace didn’t answer, however, just giving him another harsh smack to the swell of his ass. Harrison felt his face burn up with intense heat before he answered, “Yes sir!”

Jace made an approving sound as he returned to rubbing Harrison’s shaft with the toy. Harrison continued to lean into the touch and rock slowly with the gentle but electrifying movements.

This continued for what seemed like an eternity. Jace would ask Harrison small questions as if to check in on him, and Harrison would answer almost half-heartedly as he tried to focus more and more on the feeling pooling in his gut ever so slowly. He wasn’t complaining, though. Usually he hated slow jack off sessions but this.. this was something completely new. Something he completely liked..

Out of nowhere, he found himself uttering out a soft, “Thank you, sir,” despite having nothing to specifically thank him for. This must have taken Jace off guard because he stuttered for a moment, but only for half a second as he continued to bring Harrison closer to his edge. He chuckled in response, leaning over him a bit lower.

“Thank you for what, Harrison?” he asked, the amusement clear in his voice.

Part of Harrison hated the cockiness that seemed to radiate off of him in this moment, but the majority of him didn’t care at this point, so he just answered with what he felt was honest, “Thank you for making me feel good.”

It sounded corny in his head and he could feel his face heating up more, but Jace seemingly didn’t seem to care as he just laughed again, his body rumbling and shaking with the force of his movements.

He was quiet for a while after that, just allowing Harrison to feel good in the moment. And before long, Harrison could finally see the light at the end of the tunnel. His peak was approaching, finally, and the more he focused on the rumbling toy against his cock, the faster his approach was. He groaned again, with it turning into a low moan only halfway through. He was on cloud nine.

Every second brought him an inch closer to his release and he felt nothing but pure happiness and pleasure at its approach. His orgasm beckoned to him and he could feel his very being reaching out to embrace it. His lips were being bitten, his eyes were twitching and rolling, his legs were shaking. He was unraveling at every seam.

All too soon, he felt the vibrator being yanked away from him and he came crashing back to earth. He was still panting and shaking, his hips stuttering as they tried to find the source of his waning orgasm to no avail. He felt his thoughts coming back to him in a quick rush of “no no no” and “not this game again.”

“You didn’t think I’d let you cum that easily, did you?” Jace almost laughed, clearly pleased with the way he’d managed to upset Harrison’s entire mind and body.

Harrison just groaned, rolling his head to the other side to look back at his employee properly. He didn’t know what face he was making, exactly, but he hoped it looked something akin to how angry he felt.

However, when he opened his mouth to voice his opinions to Jace, it was to his surprise when he found out that he didn’t really have any opinions. Well, at least, not the type of opinions he thought he’d have. For a second nothing came out and all he could feel was disappointment and anger, but then in the next second he’s saying, “Please let me cum, sir.”

To say Jace was caught off guard by that was an understatement. The look on his face in that moment changed quickly from a look of cockiness and pleasure to a look of utter.. What Harrison could only describe as sudden hunger and.. something deeper that he couldn’t quite place. It made his insides squirm with anticipation, and at the same time pride that he wasn’t willing to admit to yet. He didn’t let himself smile, though. Too preoccupied, he decided.

Especially when, as a response, Jace reached under Harrison’s hips and yanked as hard as he could until Harrison had been flipped over onto his back. The resulting position was a bit more uncomfortable than when Harrison was on his knees, but the resulting action practically drowned all of Harrison’s doubts out of his mind as, in one swift motion, Jace pulled Harrison’s waistband down past the swell of his balls and took his boss’s leaking cock into his mouth.

It took Harrison a full minute to come back down from his orgasm.

\--

Harrison couldn’t help but rub at the marks left on his wrist even an hour later. They were less harsh than the ropes, but still apparent. He hoped they wouldn’t bruise, but he had a feeling they probably would, especially with his pale skin. He wasn’t too mad, though, they would be a bit harder to see under his suit at work, especially if he was careful. Which he promised himself he would be.

His eyes were about to drift close until his ears picked up the sound of his employee shuffling back into the room. He looked up, then sat up when he spotted the mug Jace was carefully carrying over to him. He muttered a short “thanks” as he took it, then tilted it towards his lips to sample some of the warm hot liquid inside. Jace had been right, he was actually pretty good at brewing tea. Harrison would never admit that, though. Instead, he just swallowed and sighed, closing his eyes to savor the delicately herbal taste of chamomile.

All too soon, he opened his eyes and met the gaze of the younger man, who’d come to sit on the edge of his bed. Almost awkwardly. It made Harrison want to leave the room, somehow, so he scooted over and patted the space beside him almost begrudgingly. Jace watched his face for a moment, then decided to obey him and got up to sit in the more comfortable, and less awkward, space. Harrison took another gulp, then placed the mug on his bedside table, leaning back against the headboard and fully relaxing.

“So…” Jace began, obviously not knowing where to go with his next few words.

“That was great,” Harrison decided to finish before him, not really knowing what he was saying until it was outside of his body.

“Uh, yeah. It was..”

“Except maybe the part where you jacked off over me, that was kinda weird,” he continued, a hint of a smile threatening to spill over onto his features. “I mean it was hot but also weird.”

He could see Jace’s face light up out of the corner of his eye, but decided to let him keep his dignity and didn’t say anything else about it. “Yeaah,” he finally said, “sorry.”

“No don’t be.” Harrison sat up again and turned to look at him fully. “Like I said, it was hot. You just did it without saying you were or anything.”

That made Jace smile. “What, like you would have felt less weirded out if I’d discussed the matter with you beforehand?”

Harrison shrugged, “I dunno, probably.”

Jace frowned then. “Harrison… was this a mistake?”

He blinked for a moment, then went back to leaning against his bed and looking up at the ceiling. He wasn’t sure how to answer that. On one hand, yes definitely. But on the other hand..

He shrugged again. “I enjoyed myself, Jace. And you did too, if you coming on me means anything.” He could see the man blush again. “But like I said, I trusted you and I consented to it this time, so it’s not like we’re doing anything without permission.”

“Riiight but.. was it the right thing to do?”

He thought for a while… then sighed and sat up again. He moved to straddle Jace’s legs, thoroughly surprising the other man but not enough to push him off or try to make him move. He placed his hands on Jace’s chest and looked up into his eyes, willing himself to be as serious as he could possibly be in that moment.

“Yes.”

Jace’s eyes widened and Harrison could sense he was about to say more but he didn’t let him finish, only continuing.

“Jace, what you did to me that first time was wrong. I think we can both agree on that. You touched me without my permission and didn’t own up to it with our superiors, then you only apologized for it recently, and to make matters worse you decided to do basically the same thing again, except with my consent.” Jace’s was a dark red at this point but he didn’t care. He just took a deep breath and leaned back, trying to will himself to relax.

“But.. as much as I hate to say it, that actually ended up helping me, somewhat. Remember how you said it’d be harder for me to know what customers wanted if I didn’t use the toys myself?”

“Not.. not really but I’ll take your word for it.”

He rolled his eyes, “Well, you were actually right. After that instance, I bought myself a vibrator and have looked at other sex toys and, well..” he paused. “It’s made me a better employee. I made a decision today that will positively impact the corporation in the future  _ because _ I let myself be violated by you. And now after this experience,” he paused again. “How do I put this lightly..”

Jace was watching his face intensively, barely blinking while Harrison tried to sort his thoughts.

“I,” he hesitated once more, not sure if he wanted to say what he was thinking of saying. But eventually he decided that Jace deserved to know the truth, if anything. So he let himself say, “I want to do this again. With you. I want to experiment with you more.”

“Woah, really?” Jace asked, failing to hide the excitement that was creeping into his face. It almost made Harrison laugh, but he instead chose to get his thoughts out lest he forget them.

“Yes, really. I had a good time tonight, and that was just with a vibrator. I wanna try more things, I guess.” Another shrug. “Maybe I can get into the whole bdsm thing, and make things better for customers in the process. Think of it as.. research of some kind. You and I are simply doing research of the toys the company is selling.”

Jace nodded, easily catching on. “And since most of the toys we sell can’t be used alone, we’re just teaming up to do the research together.”

This time Harrison did let himself smile, then placed a finger pointedly on Jace’s nose. “No one can  _ ever _ know, though. No matter the reasons behind it, no one can know that we’re seeing each other. Or else.. I don’t even want to think about it. Just don’t tell anyone.”

Jace made a crossing motion across his chest then, shaking his head. “I wouldn’t dream of it. Scout’s honor.”

“Good.” He finally hopped off of Jace’s lap with a sigh and let himself relax into the sheets with another sigh. “Glad we’re on the same page.”

“So.. does that mean I can decide what to do with you? Since I’m the expert?”

Harrison raised an eyebrow. “You call yourself an expert?”

“Out of the two of us, of course.”

“And you’re not gonna do something weird like pee on me or anything?”

Jace’s eyebrows furrowed. “Oh god no, I’m not a fan of watersports.”

“Is that what that is?”

“It’s one of the names for it, yeah.” He shifted again, coming to lay down beside his boss as Harrison closed his eyes fully and felt the effects of sleep beginning to overtake his mind. “But I’ll talk to you about things I want to do before I do it. You can always say no.”

“Well.. then I place my trust in you, Mr. Woodrow. Don’t let me down.”

“Wouldn’t dream of it, sir.”

The two men were quiet for a moment after that. Harrison was teetering on the edge of sleep. The past hour had taken a lot out of him, but now that he finally had gotten all of his thoughts out of his head, all he could worry about was curling up and drifting away. Which was typical, but this time felt different.

He couldn’t place the feeling at first, but then he realized as he felt Jace shift on the bed beside him. He didn’t feel very cold, or lonely at that moment, as he usually did. There was someone beside him.. The thought surprised him at first, but then he realized how comfortable it felt. To have someone there for once. He’d always wished for it, but from Jace of all people…

Eventually his thoughts continued to devolve until he couldn’t hold onto a train of thought for longer than two seconds. All he could think about was how comfortable he felt, how much he wanted this. How much he-

“I should get going.”

Harrison’s eyes practically flew open at the sound of his employee’s words. His body buzzed with sudden anxiety and it took him a while to fully register the words Jace had just uttered.

His first thought was to reach out and grab Jace and beg him to stay, maybe add in some puppy eyes and whimpering. But instead of that, he simply turned toward his employee.

“You can sleep here,” he said, trying not to seem as desperate as he all of a sudden felt. Jace blinked at him, and he continued, “You can just leave early in the morning. I don’t want you to have to drive yourself home without getting sleep first.” He was still feeling desperate, so he then added in, “It’s late, anyways.”

Jace watched him for a while, then hummed and stood up. Harrison tried to fight the frown that painted itself onto his face without his permission, but he didn’t decide to say anything else if Jace was going to make his choice. He pulled the sheets over himself and tried not to feel sad, not even bothering to say goodbye.

He heard Jace walk towards the door and all of a sudden the room was plunged into darkness. He waited for the telltale sound of the door closing and footsteps disappearing down the hall, only to be even more surprised when he felt the warm body return to the space beside him and begin settling under the sheets. His eyes were wide, and not only because of the darkness.

Just barely, he could see Jace turn to him and offer him a smile. “I won’t stay the whole night, but you’re probably right. I should get some sleep.”

Harrison found himself nodding. “Driving while sleep deprived is just as dangerous as texting and driving.”

“Right, I think I heard of that somewhere,” Jace sleepily giggled. Harrison couldn’t help but join his short burst of humor, not bothering to take the smile off of his face when he was done laughing.

“Night, Mr. Clements,” Jace mused, before yawning and closing his eyes.

“Goodnight, Woodrow.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And with that, the main story finally begins, haaah it took so long to get to this point, and I can't wait for the character development that's to come from this :D
> 
> I won't take months to upload the next chapter I promise, thanks so much for waiting! Please do leave a comment below and probably subscribe for more updates to the story! Thanks so much for reading and I'll see you next time.


	11. Nothing but Confusion

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A lot of different emotions flash through Harrison's mind. He has a drink, goes on a walk, almost dies, and thinks about dick in his mouth for a long time. Is this what a midlife crisis is supposed to be? All he feels is confused...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello again! Miss me? Or, more importantly, miss Jace and Harrison? Don't worry, you'll maybe be seeing a lot more of them lately. I've gotten back into the creator's swing and I'm in quarantine for the next 10 days so I'm gonna have a lot of free time.
> 
> I'm actually kinda proud of this chapter! It's a little bit of a cluster fuck, cause lots of things happen, but I had fun writing it and it basically took no time at all! Expect more from me in the coming week.
> 
> Enjoy!

When Harrison woke up in the morning, he tried not to feel disappointed when he reached out in front of him, eyes still closed and mind still hazy, and felt nothing but a cold emptiness where a warm body had been just a few hours earlier. He allowed himself to let the disappointment show on his face this time, since he had no one to hide it from, and opened his eyes to begin waking up properly.

As he sat up, the events of last night came rushing back to him and he felt a sense of shame pooling in his chest. He’d done something terrible again, and this time it was partly his fault. He’d consented to it and insisted he was sober, so he had no one to blame but himself. Even still, he couldn’t help but feel upset with himself for letting it get this far. Sure it was nice in the moment, but what had he been thinking? He was still taking advantage of an employee..

His thoughts were interrupted when he glanced over at his dresser to see a plate of toast and eggs, with his mug from last night filled with a milky brown fluid and a scrap piece of paper leaning up against it. His mind stuttered for a moment before he thought to stand up and walk over to the plate.

The toast and eggs were cold, along with whatever was in the mug, so it must have been there for at least a while. How long, he wondered.

One glance over at his clock, followed by a groan of annoyance on his part, made him realize how early he’d actually woken up. So what time did Jace leave? If he’d even left…

He strained his ears to listen for any signs of life from inside the small house, but heard nothing for a good long half a minute. If Jace  _ was _ still in the house, he was being unnecessarily quiet for a very long time.

He shook his head to free his thoughts and finally picked up the piece of paper. He hesitated to read it, not sure if he even wanted to know the contents of the words that’d been scribbled across it, which were slanted and messy as if they’d been written in the dark. Which they probably were, now that he thought about it.

He stared at the words but didn’t really read them. He didn’t want to read them. Instead, he put the paper back down on the dresser and picked up the mug. He gave the murky contents a quick but cautious sniff. Chocolatey. Jace had made him cocoa..

He bit his lip to stop the smile that threatened to show and just took a sip. It was nice, not too sweet or rich. Milkier than it was chocolatey. He licked his lips and let his eyelids fall closed. Just the way Harrison liked it. How did Jace know…

He pondered the question as he picked up the piece of toast and took a bite, beginning to pace around his room. He tried to look around to see if he could catch any glimpses that there had been another person inside his room earlier and that he wasn’t just hallucinating the whole experience. But Jace had cleaned up after himself quite well, he almost couldn’t tell. If it wasn’t for the unmistakably dirty set of underwear that lay fresh on top of his hamper in the corner of the room.

He took another sip while he recounted the memory. Jace thought it would be a good idea to jerk off over Harrison and cum all over him, getting streaks of sperm onto his underwear, chest, and cheek. Harrison would have thought it was impressive if he wasn’t suddenly and immediately grossed out.

Yet another sip as he recounted the memory of Jace glancing up at Harrison with bedroom eyes as he made a motion of swallowing every drop of his spend. That had Harrison blushing harder than he thought he could in a long while. Not a lot of things in the bedroom used to make him blush, but now it seemed like the only thing he could do was just bite his lip and blush. What was Jace doing to him..

By the time he’d finished his cold chocolate and almost-stale toast, he’d gone through every step of his encounter with Jace and was already halfway to full hardness as he set his mug down. Couldn’t jack off, though. He needed to leave his room or he’d be stuck in a perpetual cycle of fantasizing about Jace and then coming to the thought of him.

He picked up a forkful of eggs and shoveled it into his mouth, making a quick grimace when he realized they were less cooked than he’d like them to be. Mushy eggs were not his forte..

Finally, he decided to actually leave instead of just considering it.

He put his hand on the doorknob, not knowing why he was hesitating all of a sudden. Maybe Jace  _ was _ still in the house. Maybe he was just silently doing something like reading on the couch.. Harrison pictured himself opening the door and walking out of the hallway, his eyes landing on Jace with a pair of reading glasses on and The Great Gatsby in his hand.

He’d look over at Harrison with a smile and say something like, “You know, I never actually read this in school. I just looked up the Spark Notes version of it for all the tests and stuff, but it’s actually kinda interesting. I get the whole ‘Nick is gay for Gatsby’ joke now.”

He pictured himself smiling and saying something like, “Of course  _ you _ would find something gay in classic literature.”

But all too soon the moment was over and Harrison was back in his own body, hand on the doorknob, and hesitating.

He blinked. Then opened the door.

Silence permeated the house, and with it came a sense of immediate emptiness that almost set a shiver down Harrison’s spine. He didn’t need to look around the house anymore, he already knew Jace had been long gone. The disappointment sat in his gut like a heavy rock but he swallowed it down and finally took a step out of the room.

He thought to make himself breakfast for a second, but then remembered that Jace had already done that. So then he thought to clean up a bit, but it appeared Jace had already done that as well. Then he went through a list of chores that he could have done, but either didn’t feel like doing or had already been done.

That was how he found himself stepping out of his house, a pair of sweatpants and a white tee-shirt on, and beginning to walk down the street towards some unspecified point-b.

Unlike perfect, smiling, sex god Jace, Harrison’s neighborhood didn’t have a park nearby that he could walk to. Hell, most of the roads barely even had a sidewalk. But there were quite a few trees along the path to provide him a gentle shade from the rising sun, so it was scenic enough to appease him somewhat.

Thinking back to Jace again, he scolded himself. What was that saying the kids were using nowadays? Living rent free in his head? He never understood that until now, and it was annoyingly accurate. Jace really did live rent free in his head, much to his disagreement. But maybe it was better, now that they’d be canonically seeing each other frequently.

If that was even actually the case. Jace could have very well just been agreeing with Harrison in the moment to try to get the scary man off of him and escape his house in one piece. He wouldn’t put it past him, honestly. Jace was the type to hide his fear behind a nice big smile and then turn around and run to the police like a lost child looking for their mommy in disney world.

Harrison pursed his lips, not wanting to consider that timeline. If Jace had been lying about it, he would most definitely be running to Harrison’s bosses to file a sexual assault claim and get Harrison not only fired on the spot but also thrown in jail for the rest of his life. And then he wouldn’t ever get his pension!

A hysterical chuckle made its way past his lips and he shook his head at his own thoughts. It wasn’t funny, at all. It would be a very serious problem for him. But, on the bright side! ….

A ball colliding with the side of Harrison’s face jostled both him and his thoughts from the paths they were taking and sent him basically sprawling and plummeting into the street. His ears rang painfully and he ended up scraping his hands on the asphalt, but luckily, very very luckily, everything else seemed to be okay.

He stopped wincing long enough to take a glance up and down the street to make absolute sure that he wasn’t about to be horrendously run over by a minivan filled with 6 kids and one mom. Although it would be fitting, for his sins.

Instead, he only observed as several kids playing in the lawn of the house he just was stupendously thrown from came running up to him, all shouting various degrees of “are you okay sir” and “sorry sorry sorry so sorry” and “you should have caught the ball!”

His head spinning, all Harrison could continuously mutter was “I’m fine, I’m okay. It’s fine.”

He managed to push himself upright and somewhat dust himself off, looking down at the kids with an expression that he hoped wasn’t too transparently annoyed. He didn’t hate kids, but he sure did dislike them. This would be one of the instances that he’d describe in the future as to one of the reasons why, he decided.

Still, the kids were crowding around him and continuously trying to ask him multiple questions at once. He was about five seconds away from just yelling at them to leave him alone.

“Leave him alone.” Oh, well, that was easy.

He and the kids looked up at the voice and his breath almost flew out from his lungs at a terrifying pace.

Walking towards him was probably what Harrison could only describe as the most beautiful man he’d ever met in his life, and he’s met a lot of men. His hair flowed behind him in onyx waves of luscious volume, and his startlingly deep brown eyes seemed to peer through Harrison’s soul with the chill ease of an earth-bound god who could tell exactly when, how, and why you were going to lose your virginity. His chiseled features were accented by the light stubble forming all around his chin, not to mention his chiseled body that was just barely hiding behind the tight fitting shirt that clung to him as if its life depended on it. He wore a light smirk on his face which was accompanied by a slight furrow in his brows that made Harrison want to spout all his sins to him in hopes of receiving forgiveness.

But damn.. Harrison didn’t use the term “awooga” much but..

The man put his hands on his perfect hips, looking down at the kids with those hypnotizing eyes of his. “What did I tell you about throwing the ball towards the street? You could have just caused a major accident just now.”

“It was Kaitlyn’s fault!” One of the smaller children spouted out.

Only for another child, presumably Kaitlyn, to answer, “No it wasn’t you liar! You’re a liar, he’s lying!” And then to begin to cry.

The man shook his head and began ushering them back into the yard and, thankfully, away from Harrison. “Go back inside, that’s enough ball this morning.” Several of the kids verbally protested but didn’t stop moving towards the lawn at least. Harrison let out a sigh of relief, just barely suppressing the urge to say “Good riddance.”

“So sorry about that, you know how kids are,” the man then said, finally fully turning to Harrison.

Harrison shrugged. “Yeah no, I get it. They have to get their snot nosed brattiness out of the way somehow, might as well get it over with earlier on in the day.”

The man chuckled then, shaking his head, and making his waves almost flare out into a sort of halo around his features. Harrison’s breath stuttered again, but he managed to make it mostly inaudible.

“Thankfully there are no hard feelings, right?” He raised an eyebrow and bit his lip, obviously only hoping that was the case.

Harrison nodded, “No hard feelings. Except the hard feeling of a ball flying towards my face, but other than that.”

The man laughed again, accompanied by the sound of a child’s own laughter. They glanced at the lawn once more to see the children, actually not in the house at all and just playing on the lawn again, just without the ball. They probably thought it was some slick loophole. The adults, however, just sighed.

“Kids, am I right?”

“Yeah. Yours?” Harrison didn’t even know why he was asking, it really wasn’t his business. These people weren’t even his neighbors, he’d walked down several streets before he’d gotten here. Still, he looked to the man for an answer.

The man looked back at him, almost curiously, then responded, “Nah. I’m just the cool uncle. Their parents are out for the weekend so I’m watching over them.”

“I can believe that,” Harrison said, crossing his arms and shifting his weight, “no one with hair like that could have possibly had this many kids.”

“Is that supposed to be an insult?”

“On the contrary, it’s actually the highest form of compliment I can give to you.” The man laughed again and Harrison fought off a smirk. He didn’t know why he was being so friendly right now, but it felt nice to be social. Maybe Jace was right, maybe getting out of his own head and into the real world would be beneficial to him.

The man gave Harrison another up and down look. “I don’t think I’ve seen you around here before. You new?”

“Oh no, I’ve lived here a few years. I’m just up on Yarborough.” He tilted his head in the direction of his street. “I just decided to take a walk because… well, I heard self help days are useful.”

“A self help day walk? In this neighborhood? You deserved to get hit by that ball,” the man continued, laughing still.

“Yeah, well, some good things came out of it, so I’d say it’s actually almost a success..!”

He observed the man’s eyebrow raising again. “Something good, huh?”

“Yeah. A couple streets back, actually. I met this really cool uncle-type guy who saved me from a gaggle of diaper-monsters before I got ran over by a car.”

“Do you mean to say he did that and as a result you didn’t get run over, or he did that and then not too long later you got ran over?”

“Why do you care? I’m not even talking about you, it’s some other cool uncle-type guy. You’re just a moderate actual uncle guy.”

“Right, right. I shouldn’t be meddling in a stranger’s life, you’re right.” He held out his hand. “I’m Ravi.”

Harrison reached out and shook it. “Harrison.”

“Last name Styles?”

“Ha ha, that was so funny.” He rolled his eyes, this time not fighting the smirk.

“I take it you don’t go on walks often. I babysit these diaper monsters a lot, and I really have never seen you.”

He shook his head. “This was really just a one time thing. I needed to breathe. House was too..” Lonely. Empty. Cold. “Housey.”

“I totally get that. Well, Mr. Harrison Not-Styles.” Harrison smiled again. “You should get into the whole walking thing. It’s good for you. Should do it more often.”

“Interesting,” Harrison replied. “Any routes you think I should take in particular?”

Ravi just smiled then, walking back towards the playing children. His eyes didn’t leave Harrison’s for a while, but when they finally did, it was as if Harrison was snapping back from a daze he didn’t even know he was in. His breath came back all at once and he almost felt woozy.

What the hell just happened to him?

\--

Harrison finally made it back to his house not too many minutes later. The sun had begun rising higher in the sky, making the outside world so much hotter than it had been earlier and forcing him to retreat back to the safety of his home. Not as if he would have stayed out much longer anyways. There were only so many streets you could walk down before you got too afraid of losing the route back home.

He pulled out his phone and plopped onto his couch, feeling exhausted all at once. He scrolled through a few apps, but not for long before his phone dinged with the notification sound. A text, apparently. He opened it.

**-Alyson <3 <3-**

_ Where the fuck did you go last night? Did you get home okay?? _

Well, at least she cared about him. He smiled softly, then replied.

_ I got home fine. Got a ride. Just a hangover now. _

He didn’t feel like disclosing the information about the ride happening to be Jace Woodrow, the employee he was supposed to not be having sex with, and that now he had no clue where said Jace Woodrow, the employee he was supposed to not be having sex with, had gone.

_ Well why didn’t you fucking tell me you were leaving? I was worried to death about you. _

_ I didn’t mean to, sorry. I just got caught up in trying to get a ride and just wanted to sleep when I got back. _

_ That’s well and dandy, but you still could have told me. _

He frowned. It felt bad to lie to Alyson, but it wasn’t like he could tell her or anything. She’d just freak out even more, things would be about 20 times worse and he would be in jail. Both in real life, and in Alyson’s heart..

_ You’re right. Next time, I promise. _

_ You better. For crying out loud. _

He smiled again, sprawling himself out across his couch and relaxing back into the cushions a bit more.

_ So, did you get some tail last night? _

He rolled his eyes, then paused. He was talking to Alyson, someone he trusted like a friend. It wasn’t like she hadn’t seen him flirt with girls before, or like she hadn’t been aware of him talking to Hugo last night. Thinking of Hugo made him shudder.

_ Actually yeah. _

_ Wait hold the fuck up WHAT?? _ _   
_ _ With who?? _

More pondering… how to lie about this just right…

_ A nice guy I met at the bar. We talked for a while outside and then he took me home. _

_ Was it that bear you were talking to all night? _

Harrison didn’t know what that was supposed to mean, and he didn’t quite want to know. So he decided not to ask.

_ No, it happened just outside so you probably didn’t see. _

Alyson continued to prod him with questions that in his opinion were irrelevant. I mean, who asks about chest hair?? The answer was no, by the way, Harrison wasn’t much into chest hair. Back hair was fine. Arm hair was fine. Leg hair, fine. Feet hair??

_ Alyson what the fuck are you talking about _

_ Lolololol _

He rolled his eyes.

_ So does that mean you’re like certain you’re gay or bi now? _

Harrison paused. Was that what this meant? No, certainly not, right? Guys were okay but.. Huh… what did this mean..

He thought back to last night, not for the first, or even the tenth, time of the hour. It was because he was with Jace that he felt so turned on, right? Not because he happened to be a man.. But then he tried to picture the situation with a woman. Maybe someone as attractive as Alyson.

But then that made him disgusted, so he tried to think of someone maybe the exact opposite of Alyson.

No matter how hard he thought of it, though, it wasn’t really… the same. Women were great, he knew women were great. He’d slept with them before, dated them before, done everything with women. He loved their soft bodies and their cute faces. There was no doubt about that. But at the same time, the last person he could picture doing what he did last night with was a woman…

So then he tried to imagine if it was just another guy. Someone not Jace. Some other guy. Someone like…

Images of Ravi flashed in his mind’s eye for a split second and immediately his face had flushed a dark red. He had no doubt in his mind that he’d let Ravi do that stuff with him. Just thinking about it was- Harrison had to catch his breath.

This didn’t mean much to him, though. If anything it just made him more confused.

_ Harrison? You still there? _

He looked back down at his phone silently. He did like girls, he just did. He knew that for a fact. But on the other hand, boys were.. Well, they sent shivers down his spine. It didn’t make sense to him. Nothing made sense.

_ Well, I don’t know for certain- _

He hesitated.

_ But I can think of plenty more things I’d like that man, and others, to do to me. _

More hesitation.

_ Speaking of, how do you give a proper blowjob? _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Told you it was a cluster fuck. But hey! That's how I like my fucks, sooo.
> 
> Honestly, I didn't have the idea to add Ravi until as I was writing this chapter. I had other ideas for the conflict, but hey, who doesn't love a good lovers rivalry, along with 5 other main conflicts?? This chapter was mainly just a transition, as most of the story from now on will be lots of sex followed by bits of plot, but these types of chapters are still really fun to make :)
> 
> Also, I wonder who Harrison is thinking of giving a blow job too >w>
> 
> Thanks so much for reading! As always comments are appreciated. I'll see you guys in the next chapter!
> 
> P.S. Just to clarify, in case some of you think Harrison is acting weird with Ravi: Harrison and Jace aren't in a relationship, they're just fuck buddies.


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